Extra rush hour trains often delayed, cancelled

The extra trains NS deploys during rush hour to help ease the pressure on overcrowded trains, are often late or do not show up at all, according to research done by newspaper AD and treinreiziger.nl based on ProRail figures. Travelers organization Rover calls this situation unacceptable.

Extra trains are supposed to be deployed on the busiest routes to deal with the influx of passengers during rush hour. But these trains are often not put in at all, instead being used to replace a broken train on a different route - 6 percent were never deployed. And if the extra trains are running, they are very often delayed - in 2016 a fifth of these extra trains traveled with a delay of more than 3 minutes.

Treinreiziger.nl looked at the punctuality and dropout rate of all train sets for this investigation. The worst performing domestic train in 2016 was the rush hour train from Amsterdam to Enkhuizen - 4.2 percent were canceled and a third traveled with a delay of over 3 minutes.

Travelers organization Rover thinks this in unacceptable. "Especially in rush hour are many travelers affected by the consequences of cancelations: late for work or school and crowded trains", train expert Tim Boric said to AD. According to him, these "frequently canceled trains" each affect about 250 travelers. "A cancelation of two trains per hour during 2 rush hours iin the busiest direction hurts about 1,000 passengers."