ProRail does U-turn on train services, no cuts despite cracks
Railway company ProRail said on Friday morning that it would not be reducing services between Amsterdam and Rotterdam or on international routes after all, even though cracks were found in several viaducts en route.
Infrastructure minister Vivianne Heijnen said ahead of Friday’s cabinet meeting that services would not be reduced and ProRail has now updated its website to reflect the change of position.
“Now we have agreed on speed reductions, we can let all the planned services go ahead,” ProRail said. This is because the delays caused by speed reductions will not be as much as 10 to 15 minutes as expected, allowing the “full service to continue”, the state-owned company said.
Intercity trains will have to reduce their speed to 120 kph, and in one place to 80 kph and international services will also be slower.
A quick scan of the viaducts and bridges along the track revealed that five of them are showing signs of deterioration, such as cracks, and it would be dangerous to continue to expose them to high speeds, ProRail said on Thursday.
The company is now investigating the seriousness of the cracks but said it is still unclear how long it will take to solve the problems.
“The problems plaguing this line have gone on for too long,” NS chief Wouter Koolmees commented. “We see that ProRail is taking this very seriously and of course safety is paramount, but we do hope they will remedy the situation as quickly as possible,” he told the news site.
Rail user lobby Rover said it was ‘unpleasantly surprised” by the news and said that if the problem persists, NS should recompense travelers, for instance by dropping the current surcharge on the service.
Eurostar
Eurostar told the AD it is still waiting to hear exactly what consequences there would be for its services.
Earlier this week the company confirmed that services will continue between Amsterdam and London from June, when maintenance work is carried out on the capital’s main railway station.
However, passengers will have to disembark in Brussels for passport and security checks.
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