Train traffic in the Netherlands is suffering from the soft ground under large parts of the track, writes Treinreiziger.nl. NS is deploying more and heavier trains, increasing the risk of subsidence. Rail manager ProRail is starting an investigation, NS shares the concerns.
Due to the ground conditions, trains have to run slower on busy parts of the track or planned extra trains are in danger of being cancelled. This is the case, for example, on the The Hague-Rotterdam section, where extra sprinters would come.
The problem mainly occurs in the west of the country, says ProRail spokesperson Coen van Kranenburg in the NOS Radio 1 News. “Everywhere that the word ‘peat’ occurs, you’re in trouble.” He points out that this issue occurs in more places, such as the quays in Amsterdam that are in danger of subsiding or the Merwede Bridge in the A27.
Trains would run much faster between Amsterdam and Utrecht, but that does not seem feasible. Two of the four tracks can handle speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, but the trains here travel at most 140 kilometers per hour. The condition of the soil between Utrecht and Den Bosch is such that trains will probably no longer be able to reach it.
Eyeopener
ProRail and NS have long assumed that more trains could run if the track’s capacity was sufficient. But because the opening of Zwolle Stadshagen station had to be postponed in 2017 due to problems with the soil, the realization dawned that the subsoil of the old railway embankments is a factor to take into account everywhere.
“The Kamperlijn was for us a eyeopener“, says Van Kranenburg. “It didn’t go well when we started driving 140 kilometers per hour there. Go for a drive and then see what happens, that is no longer possible. We just have to do thorough research and limit the speed until the results are known.”
Lighter equipment
The ground problem also has consequences for international trains such as those to Berlin: the journey now takes more than six hours and the ambition is to shorten it considerably, but the new trains ordered in the Netherlands will probably have to be used on part of the route due to the weak ground. so just drive slower.
The same applies to the new night train to Prague, which will run in the course of next year. It is heavy because it is pulled by a locomotive and that is why there are speed limits on part of the Dutch route.
Other solutions are also possible: between Leiden and Utrecht, where the track lies on soft peat, the intercity runs with sprinter equipment, which is lighter.
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