Train strike: Almost abandoned train stations as commuters take the car, stay home
The train stations in the Netherlands were eerily quiet early on Friday morning. NS workers in the Midden-region are on strike, impacting train traffic throughout the country. The only trains running are between Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam.
“It is virtually empty here,” an NS spokesperson told ANP from Utrecht Central Station shortly after 6:00 a.m. According to him, that is partly due to the early hour, but also because passengers know about the strike.
NS employees in the Midden-region are striking from 4:00 a.m. Friday to 4:00 a.m. Saturday. Because this region includes Utrecht, which is a hub in the rail network, the strike halted almost all trains throughout the country.
The rail company organized no replacement transport. “A train can hold a thousand people, a bus only 50, so that is not something we can arrange,” an NS spokesperson told NOS.
The strike is due to stalled contract talks between the rail company and the trade unions. FNV is demanding a wage increase of 4 percent plus 120 euros for NS employees for this year and next year. NS's highest offer was an increase of 2.55 percent.
The ANWB does not expect the strike to cause traffic jams on Friday morning. There is typically little traffic on the Dutch roads on Fridays. At 7:45, the travelers’ organization only recorded seven traffic jams across the country, covering 5 kilometers of Dutch roads.
However, the ANWB does think that the start of Pentecost weekend could lead to some traffic jams on Friday afternoon. The ANWB expects the most jams on roads in Noord-Brabant and Gelderland, peaking between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m.
The trade unions are planning more NS strikes in the West-Nederland region on Tuesday and the Noordwest- en Oost-Nederland regions on Thursday.
