Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
A woman wearing a face mask on a platform at the Hoorn train station. August 2020
A woman wearing a face mask on a platform at the Hoorn train station. August 2020 - Credit: Jacqueline Van Kerkhof / Dreamstime
1-1-2
trains
trains back on schedule
Tuesday, 1 June 2021 - 10:34
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Trains in Netherlands back on track after massive communications outage

Trains in the Netherlands returned to normal operations on Tuesday, after a large portion of train traffic was stopped on Monday afternoon. Delays continued into the evening as trains were slowly allowed to start again. The exact reason for the communications system failure that caused the disturbance is not yet known, with the system considered to be “robust” and “incredibly stable,” broadcaster NOS reported.

"Due to a malfunction in our telephone system, it was not possible for ProRail train traffic control to contact train drivers on Monday afternoon, May 31. Because this is essential for a safe timetable, most of the train traffic had to be shut down," railroad infrastructure firm ProRail said.

It soon became clear that the wireless GSM-R network had collapsed. That stands for Global System for Mobile Communications - Railway, a separate network that is used throughout Europe allowing trains to transmit speed and location data, train engineers to communicate with signalers and dispatchers, and between staff members on the same train.

It is a system based on 3G mobile phone technology, developed specifically for the railways in the 1990s, according to Toon Norp, an expert in the field at research agency TNO. "Like the police and the fire service, the railways also have a network that is made for a specific application."

According to Coen van Kranenburg of ProRail, this communication network is "more robust" than telephony. Van Kranenburg explained that while brief interruptions can sometimes occur, he has never experienced such a major failure before. "It is an incredibly stable network, with which there are rarely problems and which rarely breaks down."

Another major failure is unlikely in the short term, according to Van Kranenburg.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Five young children seriously injured in head-on crash
  • Former cop accused of handling €4.2 million in money laundering scheme
  • Police break-up doctors’ protest at Parliament; Cabinet looking for work pressure solutions
  • Dutch inflation down to 9.9 percent in June
  • Facebook completely withdraws plan for controversial data center
  • Man, 35, arrested in Lelystad girl's Amber Alert case

Top stories

  • Five young children seriously injured in head-on crash
  • Many new rules in effect from July 1 in the Netherlands
  • Cabinet wants to ban protests in front of politicians’ homes after farmers incidents
  • Schools will remain open even during a severe Covid outbreak
  • Abolition of slavery commemorated in Amsterdam; Many companies give a day off
  • Girl named in Amber Alert found safe, police say

© 2012-2022, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content