Travelers organization Rover believes that NS chooses too easily to cancel trains to solve the problems caused by the staff shortage. Together with other consumer organizations, Rover writes that the train company can do much more. For example, the traveler organization proposes to have office and shop staff help as departure assistants. These are employees who help with the departure of trains.
Rover also advocates relaxing the rules, allowing one conductor to take more train compartments under his or her wing. “It is obvious that the passenger will decline next year, but we expect from NS that at least the best possible product is put in place,” says Rover director Freek Bos. “That means a logical and predictable timetable with extra long trains and attention to good connections. Above all, however, scaling up the number of trains as quickly as possible to prevent train passengers from dropping out for good.”
The NS is going to cut sharply in the train supply in 2023 due to the staff shortage and wants to run a tenth fewer trains than in 2019, the last year before corona. The timetable will go into effect in December, but changes have already been made gradually from September. Rover points out that on weekends travelers may experience 15 to 20 percent fewer trains in some places, and in some cases only one train per hour. The traveler’s organization states that the service will drop to ‘an unacceptable level’ as a result.
Response NS
A spokesperson says that the NS ‘would like nothing more’ than to run the original timetable, but also indicates that the company is forced to reduce the number of trains due to the high workload and shortage on the labor market. He therefore does not agree with Rover’s criticism that the NS chooses this too easily. “This is the hardest thing we can do and the last thing we want to do.”
NS is open to looking at Rover’s ideas, such as deploying departure assistants. “We also understand that less conventional measures can contribute to a solution,” said the spokesperson. ,,But being a train driver or conductor is a profession. You have to organize that differently and that has to be done in good consultation.”
According to the railway company, it is also difficult to say whether such measures will have a rapid effect on the timetable.
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