Tuesday, 3 February 2015 - 07:54
Infrastructure Sec. rails on train management
State Secretary Wilma Mansveld of Infrastructure has demanded clarification of both NS and ProRail regarding the repeated problems on the track. The latest problem was yesterday in Utrecht. It started around 08:15 a.m. and was only resolved at around 21:00 last night.
"I let the CEOs of ProRail and NS know that they must do everything to get the causes of this (the faults, ed.) on the table and remedy it structurally. I want to be informed by both organizations as soon as possible. Travelers should be able to count on a reliable and predictable train." Mansveld said to ANP.
There is also dissatisfaction in the Second Chamber over these problems. "It is incomprehensible that through computer problems things go wrong so often on the rail. Travelers across the country are the ones to suffer. You can do nothing about snow storms, but this is your own IT systems." PvdA Parliamentarian Duco Hoogland said. According to VVD Parliamentarian Betty de Boer, there have been so many problems lately that incidents can hardly be mentioned. "I'm really worried about whether NS and ProRail have the whole thing under control", the parliamentarian said.
Travelers association Rover finds the impact of the fault unacceptable and wants the board of commissioners to intervene. "This isn't an incident anymore, it is a structural problem. It is now high time to intervene in the IT department of ProRail. Muddling through is not an option." said chairman Arrien Kruyt
This was the second large system failure this year. The first one was on January 22nd and was caused by a power outage.