Arriva

On Friday Arriva is running an adjusted timetable with fewer trains on its routes in Groningen and Friesland. The public transit company is struggling with equipment problems caused by the persistent heat, Arriva said on its website.

"In order to be able to offer the most reliable timetable possible, Arriva is therefore working on a modified timetable on Friday", the company said. Arriva train traffic was also affected by these equipment problems on Thursday, according to RTV Noord.

Regional public transit workers across the Netherlands will strike from Wednesday, unions CNV and FNV confirmed. Mediators' attempt to make a new collective bargaining agreement for this sector failed, ANP reports.

CNV called on its members to strike for 72 hours starting on Wednesday morning. "Unfortunately, we would've like to see this end differently", CNV negotiator Jean-Marie Severijns said. 

In February a man was arrested on suspicion of setting a number of Arriva buses on fire last year. The suspect is a former bus driver who was fired from Arriva at the end of 2016, Brabants Dagblad reports based on various sources.

According to the newspaper, the 29-year-old man worked as a driver on Arriva's regional lines. He was fired late in 2016 because a broken relationship with another employee led to problems on the work floor.

Regional buses and -trains will not be operating across the Netherlands on Monday and Tuesday. The court gave workers permission to strike, AD reports.

The regional bus and train drivers are striking for a lower workload, more training and breaks to use the bathroom. Unions FVN and CNV announced the strike earlier this week.

Transit company Arriva closed the toilets on its trains to prevent poop and urine freezing in the collection system in the extremely cold weather the Netherlands is currently experiencing. Stickers on the toilets inform passengers that they cannot be used, NOS reports.

Closing the toilets is a precaution, an Arriva spokesperson said to the broadcaster. "It is really extremely cold for our country. So we are preventing damage and the trains having to be taken out of service." Arriva expects this measure will be in effect until Saturday. 

Dutch labor union FNV has announced a massive regional transit strike scheduled to take place on Thursday that will shut down many public transportation routes including tram lines in Utrecht. The planned action is because workers could not get guarantees to reduce job stress, and a proposed salary increase is smaller than demanded.

On Monday trade unions CNV Vakmensen and FNV announced labor actions and a possible nationwide, 24 hour long public transit strike on January 4th. These actions are the result of talks on a new collective bargaining agreement for public transit workers collapsing last month, Financieele Dagblad reports. 

The current collective bargaining agreement expires on January 1st. It covers over 12 thousand public transit employees. 

A serious shortage of bus drivers is looming just over the horizon, NOS reports after speaking to the Dutch public transit companies. Some companies even doubt whether they will be able to keep all their bus lines running in the near future.

A woman gave birth on an Arriva Bus in Breda on Sunday evening. The baby boy was born on line 115 on Markendaalseweg, with the help of bus driver and passengers, Omroep Brabant reports.

Bus driver Frans Videler saw in his mirror that something was up with the woman. He heard a shout and saw her water break. He pulled the bus over, let traffic control know via the emergency button and called the emergency services. He was still on the line when the baby was born 

Winsum mayor Rinus Michels openly apologized to a farmer whose land will have to be used for the construction of an emergency road. That road is needed to avoid an unguarded railway crossing, where a train derailed on Friday injuring 18 people, NU.nl reports.

Several people were injured in a train accident near Winsum on Friday afternoon. An Arriva train partly derailed after crashing with a milk truck, according to the Groningen police and safety office on Twitter.

So far nothing is known about the exact number of injured people or the severity of their injuries. So far one wounded person was taken to hospital, according to the police. The truck driver escaped unharmed. All passengers were removed from the train.