More trains in new timetables, but public transport is still far from being at the old level

Bus lines that have been canceled, vehicles in a different color and more train rides. Anyone who takes the metro, tram, train or bus in the coming days may need to pay close attention in advance. Today a new timetable comes into effect in a large part of the Netherlands.

While updated timetables in recent years led to reports of disappeared bus lines, fewer trains and poorer connections, things seem to be getting better for many public transport travelers in the coming year. The number of bus lines is still decreasing rather than increasing, many people are working from home and staff shortages have not been resolved, but the tide certainly seems to have turned on the railways.

For example, the largest carrier in the Netherlands, the Dutch Railways, is running more trains again. Travelers in the Randstad in particular benefit from this, because four intercity trains per hour run between the major cities, while in recent years there were often only two.

A direct train will also run between Amsterdam and Breda and the so-called ten-minute train will return between Arnhem – Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In total, the NS says it will run an additional 1,800 train rides per week in the new timetable, for a total of more than 22,000 rides.

The biggest changes on the railways, including those of regional rail carriers, are shown on this map:

The NS can deploy the extra trains because almost 1,500 conductors and drivers were hired last year. However, the carrier warns that the shortage on the labor market continues, meaning that on some rail routes a train will still run only once an hour during off-peak hours. The NS hopes to hire additional people for this in the near future.

Trains can also sometimes be shorter than travelers are used to. The rail carrier is faced with a major shortage of mechanics, which means that trains are sometimes not repaired on time and are therefore not allowed on the track.

It is striking that the extra NS journeys are mainly scheduled for Monday to Thursday. According to the carrier, there is hardly any rush hour on Fridays due to working from home. As a result, travelers will notice that there are fewer trains running on certain routes than before on certain routes that day.

The NS will not increase the prices for tickets for domestic trips next year. The cost of a train ticket remains the same because the outgoing cabinet has allocated 120 million euros at the request of the House of Representatives. Initially, the NS was allowed to increase ticket prices by 6.5 percent, but that will not happen.