All NS trains to halt for brief protest after conductor was viciously beaten
All NS trains will halt for 3 minutes at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday in protest against violence faced by NS conductors, drivers, and other employees. The protest follows a group of young people assaulting a chief conductor and a train driver on a train between Delft and The Hague this past Saturday.
The assault happened at around 10:30 p.m. on the train between Delft and Den Haag HS, trade union VVMC told ANP. The conductor and driver were chasing a group of six to eight boys on a double-decker train. The boys “pushed the conductor down the stairs with brute force,” punched her, and kicked her. She was treated in a hospital and is now in a plaster cast, the trade union said. The driver was also assaulted. The police arrested one minor.
NS CEO Wouter Koolmees called the violence and aggression his staff faces “madness.” He, like the police, blames it on a “hardening” in society. “It is noticeable in the supermarket, in the library, on the street, and also on the train and at the station. This past weekend’s violent incident fits into a frightening pattern of threats and attacks on our colleagues,” he said.
NS registered 1,042 incidents of physical violence against its employees last year, 8 percent more than in 2022. NS employees also faced over 2,300 incidents of verbal aggression last year. NS is taking measures to improve its employees' safety, but Koolmees added, “We are reaching the limits of what we can do. We need help from the government. It can’t go on like this any longer.”
The rail company again asked the government to expand the powers of its security personnel so that they could access certain police systems, check identities, and more quickly determine who they were dealing with.
