The train skipped Tilburg University station exactly 47 times in two months. The NS confirms this. The goal is to catch up on delays, but it is a bitter pill for many students. “Very irritating,” responds one student.
The train announcer is often the messenger of bad news. It means a detour for students. The train passes their own university and then they have to travel back by bus or another train. This way they can ‘enjoy’ the same part of Tilburg twice, for their lectures or exams.
“One time the train didn’t stop and I missed my lesson. I just went home again,” says student Cecilie, on a rainy platform Wednesday morning. “It’s college! Why skip it?”
Official guideline
“For the umpteenth time, the NS appears to hate students,” wrote traveler Mark de Jong on X, formerly Twitter. The sprinter was thirteen minutes late at that time. He doesn’t understand the choice to skip the station. “There are a lot of students on the train, especially around lecture times.”
It also happened last Thursday, during the morning rush hour. “Today too, NS will not call the sprinter with ride number 6621, which would stop at Tilburg University at 7.52 am, at this station,” it was announced. “Is there an official guideline from your management that allows this?”, traveler Frank Blous asks on X.
7 minutes delay or more
There is a guideline: according to the NS, it only happens if there is a delay of seven minutes or more. “It is not a popular measure. We only do it if there really is no other option,” says spokesperson Arno Leblanc. “I understand that students find it annoying.”
If the train is so delayed, it will hold up other train traffic. “It is then a choice of two evils. Either you skip one station or you have to cancel the train. Then many more people will be affected.”
The spokesperson emphasizes that the numbers involved are small. “It concerns only 1 percent of the trains. And we only do it during the week.” In September and October the sprinter had to stop at the University station 4317 times. The station was skipped in 1.1 percent of the cases, which amounts to 47 times.
This concerns the trains:
- Tilburg University-Eindhoven-Weert sometimes does not drive further than Tilburg Station,
- Dordrecht-Nijmegen-Arnhem sometimes skips Tilburg University.
According to the spokesperson, things go wrong more often from Tilburg to the University than the other way around: from Breda to the University.