A train hit a fence at great speed last night that was put up by unknown persons at the railway crossing on Zandweg in Zijdewind. No one was injured, but the train was badly damaged by the impact.
The village has a fair from last Saturday until tomorrow. The fence that the train has hit should be further away to close off the fair area.
Very stupid and dangerous
ProRail has nothing good to say about the people who put the fence on the track. “It is a very stupid and dangerous action on many levels,” said spokesman Jeroen Wienen. “It may be a funfair, but that’s no excuse to do something like that.”
The train hit the fence at “reasonably high speed,” Wienen said, before launching and landing dozens of meters away. “Fortunately there were no injuries, but it could have ended very differently. I hope the police find the perpetrators soon.”
Tens of thousands of euros
The damage to the train can be quite expensive, says NS spokesperson Carola Belderbos. “That quickly runs into tens of thousands of euros. If we find out who did this, we will recover the damage from the perpetrators. People do not realize what they are causing. It is life-threatening and very irresponsible.”
No suspects have been arrested yet. District police officer Bas Dirkmaat calls on people via social media to report if they have seen anything. The NS says it will file a report.
A resident of the railway crossing does Noordhollands Dagblad her story and tells that she has warned various authorities for years about dangerous situations at the railways. The NS says that nothing is known about this. “Our security manager would be the right person for this, but has never been approached.”
However, the NS does not want to leave it at that. They make sure that everyone who needs to know will find out and ‘can imagine conversations going on’ to prevent something like this from happening again in the future at the Zijdewinder fair.