Only the routes of regional carriers are used, although the travel information here is not up to date either. We are still working hard on a solution, NS reports.
As a result of the malfunction, there is pressure on Utrecht Central Station, among others. Many people wait on the benches in the station hall and there are queues in front of the information desks. The spokesperson for the NS says that there is now a lot of staff to provide people with information.
The NS previously advised postponing the train journey or looking for an alternative if people were already on their way. Those who were already busy with a journey, in many cases had to leave the train at the next station.
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IT system
A spokesperson for the NS says that an essential IT system is down. “This morning there was no current travel information in the NS app, but we are currently also experiencing a malfunction in the system that links employees to trains. Normally that planning system is continuously updated, because it doesn’t work now, we have come to the difficult decision not to use trains until at least 8 p.m..” Later in the evening it became clear that the timetable is out all evening.
Stranded train passengers seeking alternative transport complain about crowded buses and hours of delays. The regional buses do run, but the NS cannot deploy extra buses, because the disruption is national and it concerns such large numbers of travelers who cannot fit in a bus. A train can accommodate many more people than a bus. “That is impossible,” said a spokeswoman for the NS.
The trains and buses of regional carrier Arriva do run according to the timetable, but the buses are overcrowded, so that stops sometimes have to be skipped.
hack
There is no reason to think that it is a possible hack of the system, the NS can further report. The decision to stop driving is one you’d rather not take, but not only was there no up-to-date travel information for travelers, there were also problems behind the scenes. For example, the malfunction made it difficult to rearrange personnel and trains if, for example, there was a delay somewhere.
According to the Amsterdam city broadcaster AT5, quite a few international travelers have stranded at Amsterdam Central station who have to fly from Schiphol, for example. Photos show how long there is in front of the information desk.