Netherlands stays home: Empty train stations, no traffic

By Janene Pieters on March 13, 2020 - 10:10
Amsterdam Central Station
Amsterdam Central StationblooduaDepositPhotosDeposit Photos

People in the Netherlands seem to be heeding Prime Minsitter Mark Rutte's call to work from home as much as possible. The train stations were "extremely quiet" on Friday morning. And there were hardly any traffic jams on the roads.

It was "extremely quiet" on the trains and a the stations on Friday morning, a spokesperson for rail company NS said to NU.nl. "We actually have not had a rush hour. We do not have hard figures yet, but conductors and employees at stations see the call to work from home and not to go out has been answered."

A NOS report went to check out the situation at Utrecht Central Station. "It is quite quiet here. A lot quieter than usual," he said to the broadcaster. "There are also fewer trains. The so-called rush-hour trains, for example, have been removed from the timetable. The NS also wants to keep personnel on hand for when a conductor falls ill. Then they immediately have a replacement."

Most of the people the reporter spoke to a the station were there because they simply cannot work from home.

An RTL Nieuws reporter said similar things about Amsterdam Central Station. No hustle and bustle at the entrance gates, she said. 

The roads were also quieter than usual for a Friday morning, according to travelers' association ANWB. "It is always quieter on Friday morning, but now there are fewer traffic jams than usual," an ANWB spokesperson said to news wire ANP. Usually, Friday rush hour sees around 30 kilometer of traffic jams. At around 7:00 a.m., there were 8 kilos of traffic on the roads. "There are no traffic jams," the association tweeted shortly before 9:00 a.m.

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