Hundreds of passengers evacuated from stranded train; some NS delays on Sunday

About 300 passengers had to be evacuated from a stranded train on Saturday evening at Lage Zwaluwe in Noord-Brabant. The NS reports that the timetable there is now fully resumed, but other delays are expected between major cities on Sunday.

The passengers were forced to disembark from the intercity to Breda when a broken overhead line ended up on top of the train. The train was towed away, after which the passengers were transferred to a special evacuation train, a spokesperson said.

The intercity had to be grounded first, because otherwise people leaving the train ran the risk of being shocked. Because the air conditioning had also failed, ProRail distributed water on the stranded train.

No train traffic was possible for hours on Saturday evening between Dordrecht and Breda and between Dordrecht and Oudenbosch. At around 11:35 p.m., the NS reported that the restrictions were over and the timetable was back on track.

On Sunday, there will be fewer intercity trains between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam, Leiden and Lelystad, and Utrecht and Eindhoven, according to the NS. This will cause an extra travel time of around 15 minutes.