No trains running in Zuid-Holland as NS workers strike

NS employees are striking at many stations in the west of the country on Friday. Train traffic in Zuid-Holland shut down almost entirely at 4:00 a.m. The NS travel planner showed that no NS train would depart from The Hague, Leiden, Rotterdam, Dordrecht, and others in the coming hours.

Partial train traffic is possible from other regions. For example, trains depart from Utrecht to Rotterdam but won’t run farther than Gouda due to the strike. Most rains between Utrecht and the north, east, and south of the country seem to be running for the time being.

Trains also run from Schiphol to the (south) east early on Friday morning, for example, to Almere and Venlo, but not to Zuid-Holland. The train to The Hague stops in Hoofddorp because of the strike. The Intercity Direct to Breda is also not running early on Friday morning, and NS warns that the international train from Amsterdam to Brussels will run irregularly.

Although the strike's consequences will really be noticeable in the rest of the country later on Friday, the situation was still calm early on Friday morning, NS said. The adjusted timetable started as planned, a spokesperson said. The stations affected by the strike were also quiet.

NS expects today’s strike will have much more consequences than the first of the relay strikes on Wednesday. Just like then, the rail company is trying to disconnect the strike area from the rest of the timetable, but that is much more complicated.” This region is very much intertwined with the rest of the Netherlands,” said the spokesperson on Friday morning.

Travelers in other parts of the Netherlands should take into account the possible consequences of the strike for their train journey. “Traveling from Utrecht to the north, for example, should be possible. But it could be that the train gets canceled, possibly because that train should come from the west. That’s why we really appeal to travelers: keep an eye on the travel planners.”

The NS site was red on Friday morning, with many trains not running. There are no trains between Utrecht and Leiden. It is also red on the routes between Utrecht and The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam, Leiden and Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Breda, and The Hague and Dordrecht.

Trains of other carriers will run on Friday. NS expects to be able to run the regular timetable this weekend.

The trade unions FNV, CNV, and VVMC are striking for the second time this week because of failed collective labor agreement negotiations with NS.