NS confirms: all trains in the Netherlands cancelled on Friday due to strike
There will be no NS trains throughout the Netherlands on Friday because staff at the Midden-Nederland region will be going on strike, a spokesperson for the NS has confirmed. The trains will stop at 4 a.m. on Friday and will only resume operations at 4 a.m. on Saturday.
The Midden-Nederland region includes the areas surrounding Utrecht, which is an important hub in the rail network as that is the location where the train schedule throughout the country is managed. The employees responsible for this are also going on strike. For this reason, none of the NS trains will be running.
There will also be no alternative transportation. The NS will not be deploying these options, a spokesperson told NOS. "1,000 people fit in a train, while only 50 fit in a bus, so that is impossible to organize. There is also rights regarding a strike, which entails that we are not allowed to use alternatives during a strike."
The trade union FNV confirmed the strike on Tuesday after a deadline that they had set for the NS to meet their demands for a higher salary increase as a part of the collective labor agreements expired. FNV is said to be preparing the strikes with the VVMC, a large railway union that has many members who work at NS.
Talks between the NS and the FNV regarding the collective labor agreement broke down in May. The union is requesting a wage increase of 4 percent for all NS workers on March 1, 2025, and March 1, 2026. The union had previously described an offer from the NS with a 2.55 percent salary increase as “scandalous.”
"We don't like doing this, it's not fun for the traveler. However, NS leaves us no other choice," Wim Eilert of the VVMC said. FNV director Henri Janssen added that the high work pressure for NS staff is another reason that a sufficent collective labor agreement is needed. He said that there many vacancies within the company due to the high work pressure. "As a result, we also see many relatively new employees leaving the company quickly. Something needs to be done about that and good collective labor agreements are necessary for that."
Other strikes have also been announced. Strikes in the regions North-West and East (June 12) and North and South (June 16) will probably be followed by a national strike day on Tuesday, June 17.
Regional trains will be running as usual and the NS spokesperson also expects no disruption to international trains. The NS is expecting regular train travel to resume from Saturday.
The NS understands the annoyance this causes passengers. "Many people are working from home on Friday, but a long Pinkster weekend will also be starting. So, of course, it is very annoying that there are no trains running. At the same time, striking is a right. The strike is about collective labor agreement negotiations. There are no discussions going on at the moment, but we would like to continue talking about it," the spokesperson said.
