ProRail staffing issues to continue to disrupt train traffic

ProRail is struggling to find enough traffic controllers. The consequences of a tight labor market are becoming more and more clear, the railway manager wrote in the annual report published on Friday. There is a shortage of trainers and training places are becoming more difficult to fill.

According to ProRail, a shortage of traffic controllers was filled in April of last year. But the shortage rose to 3 percent during some periods of last year. There are also special training spaces. These candidates are currently being trained.The success rate of the group that started in 2023 was only 55 percent. This is significantly down compared to a year earlier when it was at 66 percent.

“This confirms that the average quality of the candidates is dropping due to increased competition in the labor market,” ProRail said. They are expecting the number of staff in the company to decrease further and more shortages to arise.

Another issue for ProRail is that due to the aging population, staff members are retiring regularly. The organization needs 120 new workers to go into training to become traffic controllers every year to replace the departing colleagues.

The situation can also lead to higher work pressure for the current employees. To prevent problems in the implementation, ProRail wants to make it possible for the work to be done with fewer people. "That is why we are investing in digitalization and are trying to organize the work differently."

The railway management company had warned people in the past to expect significant delays this year due to the many construction projects taking place on the railway lines.

Due to staff shortages among contractors, these activities are increasingly taking place during the day, on weekends and outside of holidays, according to ProRail.