ProRail apologizes for Utrecht train failures

ProRail apologized to thousands of travelers who were stranded by a train failure around Utrecht Central Station on Monday with a video posted on YouTube on Tuesday and advertisements in several newspapers today. A signaling and points failure severely disrupted rail traffic throughout Monday.

Wim Knopperts, acting director of operations of ProRail, speaks in the YouTube video. "The message we have for travelers is that we are very sorry for what happened yesterday  [Monday]. Not only for travelers, but also for transporters and staff. Everyone had a rotten day." Then Knopperts explains how the fault occurred.

A piece in the newspaper states: "We realize how annoying delays are for travelers and how much we rely on the flexibility of transporters and their employees." ProRail states that they are comprehensively examining the fault in order "to learn from it and to prevent failures in the future".

The rail traffic around Utrecht Central was severely disrupted from Monday morning until the early evening due to a computer glitch. Travelers across the country faced major disruption because of the fault. State secretary of infrastructure Wilma Mansveld has demanded an explanation from ProRail and Dutch train service NS.