ANP
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NOS News•today, 21:34
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The NS will again use fewer trains next week than last week as a result of staff shortages. on six routes rides will be canceled from tomorrow; sometimes only during rush hour, but sometimes also for a large part of the day.
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These include sprinters between Gouda and The Hague and Rotterdam, and intercity trains from Amsterdam to the north and south.
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An overview of all routes with cancellations:
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NOS
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Last week, there were still four routes where fewer trains were running due to a lack of staff. For example, fewer Intercity Direct trains ran on the high-speed line between Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
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This means that six routes will be affected next week, eight in the week of 11 July.
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We do this on routes where it hurts the least and where personnel shortages are currently greatest.
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“It will be exciting,” says an NS spokesperson about the timetable during the summer. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) already wrote in a letter to parliament that the staff shortage may persist until after the summer.
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About the consequences for passengers, the NS spokesperson says: “There are shortages across the board and of course we do not want to cancel trains, but do this on routes where it hurts the least and where personnel shortages are currently greatest. “.
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Shortage of drivers and conductors
There is a major shortage of drivers and conductors, but those are not the only vacancies. For example, NS is also looking for service employees and IT staff. In total there are about 1100 vacancies.
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When candidates apply for the position of train driver or conductor, they cannot be deployed immediately. A train driver training lasts two years and before you can check tickets on the train, you follow a training course of six months.
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Another problem with the shortage of drivers is ‘job awareness’. “Each train driver has his own routes and can therefore not be deployed everywhere,” says the NS spokesperson. “Especially on weekends, it requires a lot of flexibility.”
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Arriva
The staff shortage is also an issue at other public transport companies. For example, Arriva trains in the Achterhoek ran according to an adjusted timetable this week. In the other four regions where Arriva is active, the trains run normally.
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