21 dec 2023 om 05:01
Long-term disruption in Zeeland, delays and train cancellations due to work and disruptions at Schiphol: train passengers have had to deal with a lot lately and this is also reflected in the figures. And people also complain about busy trains, travelers association Rover tells NU.nl.
In general, Rover sees a number of negative trends on the track, says director Freek Bos. “Not only at the NS, but also at the regional carriers and at rail manager ProRail. Their figures are declining and the number of complaints is increasing.”
According to Bos, passenger punctuality, which was measured this year up to and including November, is 89.9 percent. That is the percentage of trains that actually ran, were delayed by less than five minutes and with which passengers managed to make their connection. In 2022, that percentage for the main network was 91.6 percent.
The regional carriers achieve a passenger punctuality of 88.5 percent, compared to 91.3 percent in 2022.
Busy at reporting point for busy trains
Rover also receives quite a few reports on the reporting point for busy trains. “We normally receive the most reports in September, but last November the reporting center was at least as busy with 1,529 reports of busy trains,” says Bos. Rover has a “strong impression” that the number of reports is largely caused by short trains, the director says.
The number of major disruptions on the railways is also higher this year than last year. According to Bos, the counter now stands at 461, while last year there were 455. ProRail’s target value is a maximum of 450 on an annual basis. The rail manager calls this a major disruption if there is at least 680 delays.
Rover received a striking number of reports about busy trains in November. Photo: ANP Photo
Also a side note on a positive note
“In fact, only the decrease in train cancellations is a positive note,” says Bos. “We are now at a dropout rate of 3.6 percent compared to 4.7 percent a year earlier.” But the Rover director also makes a comment on this point, because train cancellations are not going well on the high-speed line.
“We are running more trains, so that in the event of a service failure there will be a new train quickly,” an NS spokesperson told NU.nl earlier this month.
In addition, the NS hired almost fifteen hundred new conductors and drivers last year. This means that an emergency measure, such as the deployment of office staff for the timetable, is no longer necessary, the NS said. The company is still eager for technical personnel, such as technicians. “That is a group that is very attracted to it,” says the spokesperson.
2023-12-21 04:01:06
#disruptions #lot #complaints #signals #track #red #Domestic
