NS running fewer intercity trains due to heat

NS is running fewer intercity trains on Friday due to the heat. Prolonged exposure to the high temperatures means that trains need to be serviced more often, and that the maintenance takes longer to perform, a spokesperson for the Dutch rail company said to AD.

On Thursday NS already ran fewer intercity trains on the Amsterdam-Schiphol-Rotterdam and Amsterdam-Sittard routes. On Friday four other routes were added: Amsterdam-Alkmaar, Amsterdam-The Hague through Haarlem, Duivendrecht-Lelystad, and Schiphol-Nijmegen through Utrecht. Travelers should take extra travel time of around 15 minutes into account, NS said on its website. On the Amsterdam-Schiphol-Rotterdam route, extra travel time can run up to 45 minutes.

On the plus side, NS is running more trains to and from Zandvoort on Friday, also due to the heat. Today there are four instead of two trains per hour until 10:00 p.m. "After work, people can take the train to the beach a bit more easily and beach visitors can enjoy the sunny weather a little longer", the NS spokesperson said to the newspaper.