Fog causing rush hour problems at Schiphol and on Dutch roadways

The evening rush hour in the Netherlands quickly became a nuisance for airline passengers, drivers, and train passengers on Thursday. With foggy conditions throughout the day, several hundred flights in and out of Schiphol Airport were delayed or cancelled, traffic congestion developed rapidly, and there were several separate issues on different railroad stretches.

A total of 196 departures were cancelled at Schiphol over the course of the day, according to data available at 5 p.m. Another 313 flights faced delays, some of which were extensive. Airlines also cancelled 198 arrivals, and reported that 277 inbound flights were also running behind schedule.

KLM, the largest passenger airline at Schiphol, cancelled a total of about 130 flights. Those were mainly roundtrip pairs, the airline said.

Arriving flights were regulated all day due to low visibility and weather conditions in the Amsterdam area, according to European air traffic control center Eurocontrol. This was expected to improve in the late afternoon and evening hours.

Even after weather conditions improve, Schiphol cautioned that flights later in the day could still be affected. There were also some delays at Rotterdam The Hague Airport, while Eindhoven Airport operations were mostly unaffected, according to the airport’s website.

Meanwhile, the situation on the roads was also unpleasant. There were about 750 kilometers of traffic jams on the A-roads and N-roads at about 5 p.m., according to travel association ANWB. The worst traffic jams were on the A27 in both directions between Utrecht and Breda, but problems were also building up on the A2, A4, A10, A12, A50 and A58.

“In the northeastern half of the country, it is slippery in localized areas due to wet road sections freezing over,” the ANWB said.

Additionally, Dutch national railway NS noted track switch problems on the railroad between Dordrecht and Lage Zwaluwe, affecting service to and from Breda and Roosendaal. There were also signal and switch problems between Zwolle and Leeuwarden. Those delays were likely to add 30-60 minutes of travel time to commuters’ plans.

A report of a person on the tracks between Zwolle and Meppel was also causing significant delays between Zwolle and Leeuwarden, and Zwolle and Groningen. The NS advised passengers to use the online travel planner for more up to date information.