NS to halt trains at 8 p.m. for Remembrance Day commemoration

NS is halting all trains at exactly 8:00 p.m. for the national two minutes of silence to commemorate the victims of World War II on Remembrance Day today. In a video posted online, the Dutch railway company explains how it will manage to stop 330 trains at exactly 8:00 p.m.

"It's not that the power on the overhead goes off", Arjan Spoormans says on the video. What it is very, very carefully arranged communications between NS and train drivers and conductors. "Because a driver ultimately has to ensure that the train stops." And the conductor must inform passengers about what's happening so that no one panics. There will also be an announcement on all stations in English and Dutch to inform all travelers.

Because all trains will be stopping, no one has to worry about missing a connection. 

Commemoration ceremonies will be taking place across the country. The Amsterdam ceremony will be held on Dam Square. A planned demonstration on Rembrandtplein to commemorate the asylum seekers who died in recent years while trying to reach the safety of Europe, was canceled due to complaints and protests from, among others, CIDI and Leefbaar Amsterdam.