Fewer train disruptions in first half of 2026, despite record outages in January snow

In the first half of 2026, there were fewer reports of train disruptions than in the same period last year, ANP found in an analysis of disruption data from Rijdendetreinen.nl. The decrease is despite a record number of disruptions in January this year, when heavy snowfall caused many problems.

In the past six months, 3,301 train disruptions were recorded. This is approximately 4 percent fewer than in 2025, when 3,447 reports were counted in the same period. The first half of last year thus remains the period with the most problems since the start of measurements in 2011.

Monday, January 5, 2026, had the most recorded incidents, with 81 disruptions. Due to heavy snowfall and dangerous icy conditions, the KNMI had issued a code orange warning for almost the entire country. This led to severe traffic problems, including stationary train traffic. The longest outage occurred that morning on connections to and from Utrecht Central Station and lasted for nearly 16 hours.

Lines to and from Rotterdam Central Station were once again the most frequently affected by disruptions. At the station, 369 issues were recorded in the first six months of this year, compared to 462 in the same period of 2025. Schiphol Airport and Utrecht Central Station also ranked high on the list again.

Approximately one-third of all disruptions were due to train defects. The number of collisions was significantly lower than a year earlier. There were 167 collisions in the first half of 2026, compared to 217 in the same period of 2025. Reports of people on the tracks also occurred slightly less frequently.