Traffic piling up early due to icy roads accidents, public transport strike

Morning rush hour started early on Thursday morning due to several accidents caused by icy roads, Rijkswaterstaat reported. Thousands of regional public transport and coach companies employees are also striking today and tomorrow.

Two lanes are closed on the A2 at the Ekkersweijer junction due to an accident involving a truck. It is causing a lot of delays around Eindhoven. On the A12, another accident closed two lanes at the Waterberg junction toward Utrecht. An accident also happened on the A27 toward Utrecht just before the Everdingen junction. Traffic can detour via the A15 and A2.

The ANWB also reported slow traffic in many places in the country's south due to the winter showers. By 7:32 a.m., the travelers’ association reported 73 traffic jams covering 461 kilometers of Dutch roads.

The meteorological institute KNMI issued a code yellow weather warning for the entire country on Thursday morning. Ice is causing slippery conditions on the road. Drive slowly and maintain a safe following distance, the meteorological institute urged. It’s also snowing in Gelderland, Noord-Brabant, and Limburg. Up to 3 centimeters of snow could fall locally in the south.

In addition to the bad weather, workers in regional public transport are striking nationwide for a better collective bargaining agreements. Touring bus drivers joined the strike. Various public transport companies, including Arriva, Qbuzz, and Arriva, warned travelers that they could not guarantee the timetable would run smoothly and advised them to seek alternative transport today.

“There are large regional differences, where in some regions 100 percent of buses, trams, and trains are running and in others only 40 percent,” a spokesperson for the Association of Public Transport Employers (VWOV) said to NU.nl.

Negotiations between the VWOV and trade unions stalled during the early hours of Wednesday morning. According to the employers, the unions wouldn’t accept the “above average” wage increase offer of 8 percent. According to the unions, negotiations reached an impasse on various points, including the wage increase, the workload, and the duration of the new agreement. About 13,000 workers fall under the collective agreement for regional transport.

The strike does not affect NS trains or city public transport in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, because those staff fall under separate collective labor agreements. Though RET in Rotterdam did warn on Wednesday that some of its buses may not run today.