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NOS News•today, 09:29
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Jorn Kompeer
editor Interior
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Jorn Kompeer
editor Interior
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With your suitcase up the escalator, wait on the platform until the train comes. For many Dutch people, that will be the start of their summer vacation in the coming days. While domestic trains are not nearly as full as before corona, the picture on international trains is very different. There are hardly any seats left and some trains are completely booked.
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International train ticket sales have been on the rise in recent months, according to figures released by NS International at the request of the NOS. In June, the carrier sold 372,000 tickets, almost 30,000 more than in the same month in 2019, the last year that normal travel was allowed. Thousands more tickets were also sold in May than in the same month before the corona pandemic.
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This concerns, for example, tickets for the Thalys to Paris, the intercity to Berlin and the Eurostar to London. The latter train service announced last week that it would offer an extra morning train between Amsterdam and London from September due to rising demand.
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Below you can see where you can go from the Netherlands without having to change trains:
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NOS
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Antwerp, Brussels and Paris are the most popular among the Dutch. Vienna, Zurich, Milan and Copenhagen are also rising fast this year. –
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It is not only the sale of individual train tickets that is growing. The Interrail pass, which allows travelers to travel through Europe for a fixed amount for a certain period of time, was also sold much more often in the first quarter than in the same period before the corona pandemic.
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Partly due to a discount promotion for the 50th anniversary of the pass, this regularly led to long waiting times at customer service in recent weeks.
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Kingsize bed
They also notice the popularity of going on holiday by train at GreenCityTrip. Owner Hessel Winkelman started less than a year ago, in October 2021, with a sleeper train to cities such as Venice, Vienna and Copenhagen. “This summer, our trains are fully booked almost every week.”
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Winkelman does notice that the concept of going on holiday by train – and in particular the sleeper train – is new to many Dutch people. “A small group expects a king-size bed and breakfast service during the trip. We are now trying to indicate more clearly in the form of a packing list that it is really different.”
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Why do the Dutch more often opt for the train? This is what we asked travelers of the GreenCityTrip sleeper train to Austria:
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More and more Dutch people are traveling by train: ‘This is really nice’
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Helmut Brall of Treinreiswinkel.nl, the largest travel agency for train journeys in Europe, also sees the increased demand. He thinks that it is mainly the experience of the train ride that makes people choose it. “Take the plane, for example. Your body gets there quickly, but your soul often needs some time to go on holiday. That is much more balanced by train.”
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GreenCityTrip owner Winkelman adds: “The airplane feels more and more like a mass product – especially due to the crowds lately. With the train we also offer a mass product, but it feels less like that.” Winkelman sees all kinds of people in his sleeper train: “From young couples, entire families, to the elderly.”
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Peak in bookings
Winkelman estimates that about two thirds of his travelers choose the sleeper train because of the experience. “The rest is doing it because of the environment.”
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And this spring Schiphol was added, says Winkelman: “People don’t feel like the uncertainty you see now with the long queues. Every time the situation at Schiphol is in the news, we see a peak on our website with bookings. .”
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