Snow: No trains running to & from Amsterdam Central Station, Schiphol Airport
Update 10:40 a.m. - article updated to add information about trains not running to and from Schiphol.
No trains are running to and from Amsterdam Central Station and Schiphol Airport due to the winter weather, NS reported. Train traffic is also at a standstill between Utrecht and Leiden due to a switch malfunction. The weather has disrupted train traffic on 19 routes throughout the country, mostly due to frozen switches. The Rijkswaterstaat closed the A32 highway in Friesland, as well as several other highways’ on- and off-ramps. And several companies announced that they are not running buses due to the weather.
NS hopes to have train traffic restarted in Amsterdam by 10:45 and between Utrecht and Leiden an hour later. But ProRail has warned that everything is taking longer than usual due to the weather conditions and the many issues on the track.
Switch failures are impacting train traffic on 15 routes, with fewer or no trains running between Utrecht and Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven, Amsterdam and Utrecht, Amsterdam and Gouda, Almere and Zwolle, Amersfoort and Barneveld, Amsterdam and Enkhuizen, Amersfoort and Deventer, Apeldoorn and Enschede, Leeuwarden and Stavoren, and Zwolle and Leeuwarden, among others.
A broken overhead line means that no trains are running on the high-speed line between Amsterdam, Schiphol, and Rotterdam. Due to the “weather conditions,” fewer Intercity trains are running between Eindhoven and Heerlen.
ProRail contractors are working hard to repair the many switch malfunctions, but due to the winter weather, this is also taking longer than usual. “They are coming by car and are dealing with slippery conditions and traffic jams, so their arrival time is longer than usual,” a spokesperson for the rail manager told ANP.
Not all railway switches in the Netherlands are heated, so the cold is affecting many of them. The ProRail spokesperson added that heating also doesn’t guarantee that a switch will work through a snowstorm. “If it snows or freezes a little, it works fine. But if more than a centimeter of snow falls, a contractor will definitely be called in if the switches freeze.”
The winter weather is also causing a great deal of trouble on the roads. The Rijkswaterstaat was forced to close a highway in Friesland. According to the Rijkswaterstaat, the A32 between Akkrum and Grou is impassable in both directions. There is already a long traffic jam on the stretch of road, and the persistent snow means that the situation is not improving.
Rijkswaterstaat also reported that it was closing connecting roads and on- and off-ramps in several places. Due to the slippery conditions, traffic is unable to climb the hills and is thus blocking the road.
Buses are not running in many places. All buses are stationary in Utrecht. In Friesland, Keolis buses are not running. A Keolis manager told NOS that they are experiencing problems due to the icy roads and feel it’s irresponsible to be on the road.
“A bus is a large and heavy vehicle, so the slippery conditions are especially problematic,” the Keolis manager said. "A bus handles the road perfectly well, but it's difficult to merge properly or reach bus stops. If a driver indicates they don't feel safe driving, we will never force them to operate."
