Many people from Brabant seem not to follow Prime Minister Rutte’s call not to go to Belgium. Around noon at Breda station it was so busy with travelers who wanted to go to Belgium that not everyone could fit on the train.
Traveler Jan Baanstra took pictures of the crowds. He calls it embarrassing. “I have never seen it so busy, with people who wanted to go that way. The intercity was packed, travelers were referred to the train to Roosendaal, but it was also busy. There was no way to start. It didn’t even fit on the platforms , people were even waiting in the hall,” he says about the crowds around 12:00.
day trippers
According to him, the trips were not necessary for work or study. “No, really day trippers. Many groups of young people. There were even security guards to ensure that not too many people got on the train.” It was also called that people were no longer allowed to board because the train was full, according to sound recordings.
A spokesperson for NS confirms that it is indeed busier than usual today on the train to Antwerp. “We think they are day trippers. We can’t stop people from going there to shop either. However, one train was canceled this morning, so it was already busier on that line after that. And people can indeed detour via Roosendaal if the intercity is too busy.”
No extra staff will be deployed at Breda station to manage the crowds in the right direction. “There are already enough people there who can jump in when it’s busy.”
Auto
There were also traffic jams on the highways towards the Belgian border on Monday morning, the ANWB reports on Twitter. It was busy on the A27 towards Breda and on the A58 to and from Tilburg.
A spokesperson for the ANWB indicates that Germany is also popular to visit during this period. But this year the roads to the east are not remarkably busy.
Rutte called last week not to go to Belgium or Germany for shopping. The governor of Antwerp also asked not to cross the border. Not everyone responds to this, as it turns out on this Monday after Christmas.
The ANWB reports the traffic jams via Twitter:
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