A train passenger and her child were struck by a collapsed window after people threw rocks at their train car on Thursday. Police said two boys were arrested walking along the train tracks in Heerhugowaard soon after the Thursday afternoon incident.
The train was pelted with rocks at about 12:30 p.m. near Hectorlaan in the Noord-Holland town as the train was approaching the station. Police said they are looking to interview the mother and child, but they have not made contact with authorities.
Eight railcars belonging to national rail operator NS were thoroughly covered in silver spray paint as they sat idle at the station in Wormerveer, Noord-Holland. Vandals painted all windows and doorways along the platform side of a pair of four-car trains, which were coupled in the middle.
"We find this incredibly antisocial," a spokesperson for the NS told RTL Nieuws. The affected train was removed from service and replaced with another vehicle. The NS said it has to remove the paint and clean the train.
A 68-year-old man was arrested for leaving a jerry can in an empty train in Leeuwarden on Thursday, prompting the evacuation of the entire train station. He is suspected of arson, the police said.
The police suspect that the man wanted to either start a fire or cause an explosion in the train. He is in custody for questioning.
The Thalys train from Amsterdam to Paris was halted in Rotterdam on Wednesday morning, after a man "acting aggressively" caused some panic on the train, the Rotterdam police said on Twitter. "Travelers heard the man call 'Allahu Akbar', and panic broke out briefly," the police said.
A witness told broadcaster NOS that the man attacked travelers and shouted 'Allahu Akbar'. Panicked travelers tried to run to other compartments. According to the police, no one was hurt and no weapons were found.
Three men taken from a train in Venlo on Monday and hospitalized with hypothermia, were arrested in connection with a burglary in Eindhoven, the Oost-Brabant police said on Twitter.
The three are suspected of breaking into a store on Gemmastraat in the city. Exactly when the burglary happened, the police did not say.
The trio were taken off a train to Venlo on Monday morning. One of them was soaking wet and each showed symptoms of hypothermia.
Sven Romkes from Assen managed to just get a spot with his wheelchair in a packed train from Almere station to the north on Tuesday evening. But two young men decided they'd rather have his spot. They picked him up, wheelchair and all, and carried him off the train. Romkes was left on the platform, watching the intercity train to Leeuwarden leave without him, De Stentor reports.
There are far too few spaces for bicycles on the train to keep up with the growing number of public transit users that travel with their bikes, according to cyclists' union Fietsersbond and travelers' association Rover. They call on NS to take measures, especially now that cycling is increasingly being encouraged, the Telegraaf reports.
Travel organization TUI will no longer offer flights between the Netherlands and Paris from he autumn of next year. The company wants to do its part to protect the environment in this way and points out that Paris can easily and comfortably be reached by train, RTL Z reports.
Public transport prices in the Netherlands increased more over the past decade that the costs involved in driving your own car, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday. In July of this year, public transit prices were 30 percent higher than in 2009. Personal car costs increased by 25 percent in this same period. For comparison, consumer products and -services prices increased by 18 percent in this period.
In the Netherlands, the amount of money spent on car costs is 10 times higher than that spent on public transit.
Two trains were set on fire at the train station in Haarlem on Monday night. Bottles of combustible material were found on both trains and the police suspect arson.
The first fire was reported at 8:30 p.m. and had already been extinguished when the police arrived, the police said in a statement. The second fire was reported at 11:30 p.m. and was extinguished with the help of the fire department.
An NS conductor and train driver had the opportunity to prove their commitment to their clients recently when a woman from Assen accidentally got on the wrong train and therefore risked missing her surgery. The conductor rose to the challenge and arranged for the intercity train to make an extra stop in Hoogeveen, so that the woman could get to the hospital on time, AD reports.
An explosion on a train in Nijmegen on Sunday, in which one man was killed, was caused by firework bombs that the victim took with him to take his own life, multiple independent sources told De Gelderlander.
A 41-year-old man was arrested for strangling a female conductor on the train from Amsterdam to Haarlem on Thursday. He attacked the conductor after he pulled down his own pants and fondled his genitals, RTL Nieuws reports.
The man was traveling without a ticket. When the conductor noticed and addressed him on it, he pulled up his shirt, pulled down his pants and started fondling his genitals. The conductor stepped away to call for assistance, but the man grabbed her from behind and started to strangle her.
National railway NS fears that an early morning strike by its employees on Monday will cause “major hindrance” to train traffic all day. The timetable will be disrupted all day long if no trains run before 7:06 a.m., according to the rail company.
A Deutsche Bahn train was derailed by a fallen tree in Enschede on Wednesday evening. The salvage and cleanup work will likely take all day, according to rail manager ProRail. Currently no train traffic is possible between Enschede and Gronau, Germany, NU.nl reports.
The tree fell onto the tracks due to the bad weather conditions. The German train collided with it and derailed, ProRail reported on Twitter at around 8:20 p.m. None of the 35 passengers on board were hurt.
A Hague dog decided to scare his owner and go on a little adventure on Tuesday. The not-so-good boy went missing from The Hague on Tuesday afternoon, and was later found riding in the first class compartment of the train to Leiden Central Station, the Leiden Noord police said on Facebook.
On Tuesday afternoon the police in The Hague received a report of the missing pet. The dog was last seen near the train on the station. His owner had no idea where the dog wandered off to.
GroenLinks wants to completely abolish flights between the airports of Amsterdam and Brussels. According to the green party, the train on this route is "effectively almost always faster and always better for the environment". The measure can also relieve some pressure on the already overcrowded Schiphol, AD reports.
Someone left gypsum blocks on a railway crossing in Velp on Monday night. A train crashed into it. No one was hurt, but things could have been so much worse, a ProRail incident officer said on Twitter.
The railway accident resulted in multiple railway crossings suffering breakdowns.
On Twitter ProRail said that the perpetrators were arrested based on witness statements and surveillance camera footage. ProRail is pressing charges of vandalism against them.
Train traffic on the Arnhem-Utrecht route was disrupted on Wednesday afternoon due to a suspicious situation on a train. A man was arrested around 2:00 p.m. on a train at Veenendaal-De Klomp station. The man shouted that he had a bomb, witnesses said to Omroep Gelderland.
Exactly what happened is not clear. A police spokesperson told the Gelderlander that they received a report that the man wanted to hurt people.
Rail manager ProRail will be working on the railways around Schiphol airport over the coming days, which means less train traffic to and from the airport. The rail works will take four days, starting on Thursday. On Thursday and Friday, trains from Amsterdam will still be able to reach the airport. But over the weekend there will be no train traffic to Schiphol. NS will deploy buses to replace the trains, NU.nl reports.
Heavily-armed police in the Netherlands stormed onto a stopped passenger train to capture two men sitting in the train car. It was one of three separate incidents in two hours taking place at or near the Zwolle train station, which led to the arrests of five people in total.
A 34-year-old man was arrested after he masturbated in front of an 18-year-old woman in an empty train to Zutphen on Wednesday, De Stentor reports.
In the empty train carriage, the man went to sit right across from the young woman and started masturbating, while staring at her. The victim left the compartment and called the train staff.
The man ws arrested at Zutphen station. The police complimented the woman for taking quick action and call on the public to take a photo for evidence if they find themselves in such a situation.
NS will experiment with high speed intercity trains on the route between Amsterdam and Groningen next year. If the experiment succeeds, the high speed trains may be included in the 2021 timetable. "For example, twice an hour as a rush hour train", NS said, NOS reports.
The second day of the General Political Considerations, the parliamentary debate on the government's plans and budget for the next year, started on Friday morning with parliamentarians briefly commemorating four children who were killed in a railway accident in Oss on Thursday morning, NOS reports.
