NS to launch massive rail expansion on Sunday; 8 new Amsterdam-Schiphol trains hourly
NS will run 1,600 more trains per week in its new timetable than it does now, the Dutch rail company announced on Monday. There will be more trains during rush hour, a sprinter every 7.5 minutes dedicated to getting travelers to and from Schiphol Airport, and more international trains. The new timetable starts on Sunday, December 15.
“It is the biggest change to the timetable in years. So there will be some changes for many passengers,” the NS said in a statement.
The company plans to run more rush hour trains, while also starting its first trains earlier in the morning and ending service later in the day. It also plans to increase the number of trains operating during evenings and weekends.
The quarter-hourly services between Amsterdam Central Station, Weesp, and Almere, between Alkmaar and Amsterdam CS, and between Utrecht and Woerden are returning. There will be an intercity every 15 minutes between Amsterdam-Leiden and The Hague on Friday and Saturday evenings. And NS is introducing the ten-minute Sprinter between The Hague CS, Rotterdam CS, and Dordrecht.
In the coming years, ProRail will be working intensively on the tracks and platforms around Amsterdam CS, during which fewer platform tracks will be available. “In order to bring the same number of passengers from the airport to Amsterdam, NS is introducing the Airport Sprinter,” the rail company said. The train will run every 7.5 minutes between Hoofddorp, Schiphol Airport, and Amsterdam CS. It will run every day of the week for most of the day.
The Intercity trains on the high-speed line between Breda, Rotterdam, and Schiphol Airport will continue to Leleystad Centrum and Amersfoort Schothorst via Amsterdam Zuid in the new timetable. The new Intercity ICNG trains will run on this route.
NS and the Belgian carrier NMBS will add the Eurocity Direct to the timetable, running between Amsterdam Zuid and Brussels Zuid-Midi, cutting 45 minutes off the current travel time. The EuroCity will also run between Rotterdam and Brussels-Zuid Midi. NS and the Deutsche Bahn will operate a daily direct ICE train from Amsterdam to Munich, instead of Basel, largely using the German high-speed network.
With this major expansion to its timetable, NS will run more trains than pre-pandemic 2019 for the first time. “In this first timetable of the new concession for the Main Rail Network, we will be running 1,600 more trains per week than we do now. A serious improvement for our travelers,” NS CEO Wouter Koolmees said. “By continuing to Lelystad and Amersfoort with faster Intercity trains on the high-speed line, important cities in our country are better connected than ever.”
