Staff shortages, maintenance to cause lots of train delays this summer

Train passengers can expect a summer full of delays due to staff shortages and planned maintenance and other work on the tracks, ProRail said to De Telegraaf. Extra travel time of at least 30 minutes won't be unusual, the rail manager said.

"There will be a lot of inconvenience due to maintenance, and at certain locations, Rijkswaterstaat will work on the road simultaneously,” Coen van Kranenburg of ProRail said. Rijkswaterstaat is the Netherlands’ public works department. “This means that there is nuisance on both the road and the rail, but also that traffic will be freed from it at once.”

The summer period usually has fewer commuters on the train and the road. “It is a conscious choice to carry out so many activities at the same time during the holiday period,” Van Kranenburg said to the newspaper. “So that there is no weeks’ long delay, but the ‘suffering’ coincides in a short period.”

Travelers between Utrecht and Eindhoven will be particularly affected. ProRail has two major works scheduled for the track on this route.