Overcrowded trains: NS staff told not to use rush our trains

NS CEO Roger van Boxtel instructed his company's employees not to use trains during rush hour in an effort to reduce overcrowding. He wants the rail workers, which use the trains for free, to make room for paying customers, Telegraaf reports based on an email Van Boxtel sent to employees.

"Especially in the trains to and from Utrecht we can make a difference", the email reads. According to him, as much as 5 percent of passengers to and from Utrecht are railway workers.

NS expects to transport a record number of 33 million passengers this month. But the rail company has too little material to accommodate all of them, leading to overcrowded trains.

NS executives are therefore required to make arrangements with employees to accommodate avoiding rush hour trains. For example, no meeting may happen at NS' headquarters in Utrecht between 8:00 a.m. and 9:30 a.m., "unless everybody gets in before eight".