Stopped: All trains, All Schiphol air traffic, Amsterdam trams halted in wind storm

By Janene Pieters on January 18, 2018 - 11:30
An NS train waiting on the tracks (Photo: TahR78/Wikipedia)
An NS train waiting on the tracks (Photo: TahR78/Wikipedia). (An NS train waiting on the tracks (Photo: TahR78/Wikipedia))

Hurricane-force winds in the Netherlands forced the shutdown of nearly all train service, all Schiphol air traffic, and several local tram services on Thursday. The NS made the decision to stop the trains as damage reports on the railways and at train stations kept coming in, the NS said.

“Please note that due to the large number of breakdowns, recovery can take some time even after the storm,” the NS noted, saying a reduced schedule was expected to remain in effect. The only scheduled train service still running were Arriva trains in Groningen and Limburg, though storm damage including collissions with trees affected many Arriva routes

Schiphol announced that all air traffic at the airport is suspended until further notice around 11:15 a.m. Before halting air traffic completely, the Amsterdam airport had  

Amsterdam public transit company GVB halted all tram traffic in the Dutch capital at around 10:45 a.m. and closed the subway station Van der Madeweg. All trams returned ot the depot. "It is not safe to keep running. At various places overhead lines have been damaged by fallen trees. Various tram lines are also blocked by branches", GVB said. 

Nearly all trams and buses serving the Den Haag region were put out of service Thursday morning, according to transit provider HTM. Only tram lines three and four provided limited service between Den Haag Centraal and Zoetmeer. Travellers were advised to follow HTM’s website and online channels for information about when service would restart.

Trams were still running in Utrecht, but at a reduced maximum speed. Delays were expected on bus and tram routes there even though they were still running.

A handful of transit routes in Rotterdam were affected by the storm. The city’s Fast Ferry service was also put on hold until winds died down.

Several ferries between Texel and Den Helder were canceled beginning at 10 a.m. Local ferry service in Velsen was also severely affected by the storm.

A t for large parts of the Netherlands, and a code orange warning for the rest. Meteorological institute KNMI expects that the winds will die down during the course of the afternoon. 

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