Railway management company ProRail warns travelers to expect significant delays in 2025

People traveling by train should be prepared for many delays and hindrances due to construction on the tracks this year. These construction projects will often be during daytime, during the weekend, and outside of vacation periods. This is due to staff shortages and a lack of materials, said the railway management company ProRail.

The company announced last year that railway passengers will have to deal with delays and hindrances caused by construction until 2030, because a lot of the tracks in the country were laid shortly after the Second World War and are in need of replacement.

The construction are extra complex this year due to large scale work being done in Germany. Work is being done on expanding and renewing the tracks between Emmerich and Oberhausen, which is just over the border by Zevenaar.

Due to this, no rail traffic is possible on this route in the summer. This has led to ProRail not being able to work on the track on the Brabantroute between Rotterdam and Venlo or the Bentheimroute between Amsterdam and Oldenzaal during this period.

John Voppen, ProRail’s CEO, has said that these construction projects will have a huge impact on the Dutch railway system. “Our whole plans have become complicated. We can do nothing on the Brabantroute and Oldenzaal, so the work has to be done before or after this,” he said during a press briefing in Vught, where there is also intensive work being done on the tracks.

He stated that a total of 25 large construction projects and a total of 400 construction projects are planned this year. “We are doing a lot of work, from very big work to quite small.”

People in Noord-Holland and Zuid-Holland will have to deal with a lot of delays this year. There will also be a long term construction project near the station in Groningen.

The railway company wanted to work on the tracks there for 51 days, but this period has already been extended. Voppen has said that the delay is due to a significant shortage of electricians among contractors. It is not yet clear how long the work on the tracks will take.