Railways Ready for Rush Hour

The NS and Arriva trains will be on schedule again Friday. The railway companies will not make any special adaptations on the track, announced a spokesperson late Thursday.Train services were severely disrupted Thursday, due to the effects of the storm. All trains north of the Amsterdam-Zwolle line were canceled. Branches and trees had fallen on the tracks and overhead lines were damaged. The NS does recommend travelers to view the current state of affairs before departure, Friday. Thursday night around ten o'clock most of the trains were back on their regular schedule, with only a few delays here and there, due to obstacles on the tracks. Groups of people showed up at Central Station in Amsterdam to learn their train was cancelled (Photo: Zack Newmark) Friday is less stormy, but according to the KNMI will be wintry showers, scattered across the country, with a chance of heavy winds. The wind stays north-west and reduces in force in the southern coastal area to strong, but remains stormy in the north. Inland, the wind is still (relatively) powerful. KLM will keep twenty planes on the ground, Friday, because of expected weather conditions. It concerns flights from Schiphol to European destinations, announced a spokesperson Thursday. For Friday afternoon no new cancellations are expected. All affected passengers have been informed. The representative for the airline advises travelers, who are scheduled to fly with KLM on Friday, to keep an eye on the website for up-to-date flight information. The airline companies canceled fifty departing flights beforehand on Thursday, as a precaution. It concerned flights to destinations in Europe. Thursday evening there were next to no delays on the airport, due to the storm. The ferry services to en from the Wadden islands were reasonably on schedule despite the storm, but Thursday evening and Friday they have to take into account the strong winds. The shipping companies adjusted their timetables or canceled their passage. Shipping company Wagenborg to Ameland canceled the passages Thursday evening and Friday morning. The TESO ferry, sailing on Texel, did not sail out after 21:00. Sailing is not the problem, according to a spokesperson, but undocking during high tide is. It was too early to tell whether they would be able to undock Friday morning. Shipping company Doeksen, sailing on Vlieland and Terschelling, operates on an adjusted timetable Friday. Due to a combination of strong winds and springtide the quay may flood, preventing ships from docking. The early ferries to Vlieland are canceled and the boats to and from Terschelling are rescheduled. The fire departments has been flooded with reports of damage by the storm. Between 06:00 and 20:00 the fire departments was dispatched 3,719 times. Most of the reports came in after 16:00, when almost 2,700 reports came in. Data from Alarmeringen.nl clearly show how the storm increased in strength over the course of the day. Between 12:00 and 16:00, 969 reports came in, and 596 of those came in between 15:00 and 16:00. After that the number of reports tripled in a few hours time.