Netherlands losing direct train to Switzerland; Last Amsterdam-Basel train on July 15
After almost 100 years, the daily train connection between the Netherlands and Switzerland will come to an end. The last day-time train from Amsterdam to Basel will run on July 15. The German rail company Deutsche Bahn no longer wants to operate the ICE to Basel, sources at NS told the Volkskrant.
The companies that operate the ICE - NS and Deutsche Bahn - had until Tuesday to re-register the train with ProRail so that the connection can be included in the railway timetable for 2025. They did not do so, NS confirmed to the newspaper, so the high-speed train will not be part of next year’s timetable. The ICE was already scheduled to be stationary for a few months from this summer due to railworks, so its last trip will be on July 15.
NS employees told the Volkskrant that the Dutch rail company didn’t want to scrap the train, but Deutsche Bahn no longer wanted to operate it. While both rail companies formally operate the ICE, Deutsche Bahn supplies the equipment for the train connection. Instead, the German rail company wants to run a high-speed train between Amsterdam and Munich from December.
Day-time trains between the Netherlands and the Swiss Alps have been running for at least 96 years, first under the name Edelweiss in 1928 and then renamed to Trans Europe Express in 1957. In 2024, the ICE is the last remaining day train. Once it disappears, the only direct train connection between the two countries will be the Austrian railways’ Nightjet night train.
According to the Volkskrant, the disappearance of the Amsterdam-Basel train proves how much NS is dependent on foreign rail companies. The Dutch rail company has “neither the equipment nor the ambition to independently operate international lines,” the newspaper wrote, pointing out that only the international train to Brussels is run with NS equipment.
