Fire shuts down trains from Rotterdam to south, disrupting international rail

Train services south of Rotterdam have been severely disrupted by a power outage. No trains are running between Rotterdam and Dordrecht or between Rotterdam and Breda, while services between Rotterdam and The Hague are operating at a reduced frequency. The NS expects the disruption to last until shortly after midnight on Monday, leading into Tuesday. Eurostar services to London, Brussels, and Paris have also been affected.

Multiple trains have been cancelled or are terminating short of their destination. Eurostar said that, due to the power outage near Rotterdam, several international services, including trains 9106, 9114, 9126, 9133 and 9115, will neither stop at nor depart from Rotterdam Centraal or Amsterdam Centraal on Monday.

A fire in a cable duct near Rotterdam Stadion caused the power outage, according to rail infrastructure manager ProRail. According to NOS, the fire in the cable duct was initiated by overheating.

Repairs are expected to take the rest of the day, NS said, citing ProRail. Five trains were temporarily stranded but have since been cleared from the affected area. The power outage has completely blocked the tracks between Rotterdam and Barendrecht, disabling vital signaling and switch mechanisms in that specific bottleneck, while rail traffic to the Kijfhoek freight yard has also been suspended.

NS has deployed a limited number of replacement buses between Rotterdam and Dordrecht, as well as Rotterdam and Zwijndrecht. Travellers heading to Breda are being advised to reroute via Utrecht or take a replacement bus to Dordrecht before continuing their journey by train.

NU.nl reported that Rotterdam Centraal quickly filled up with hundreds of stranded passengers looking for alternative transportation. The disruption coincides with a broader announcement by NS on Monday that multiple intercity lines nationwide are running at a reduced frequency due to ongoing technical and weather-related issues, creating compounding delays for long-distance commuters.

ProRail noted that extreme weather, including recent heat and intense storms, has put severe stress on track components and electronic monitoring systems across the country, making cable infrastructures highly vulnerable to failures.