A cable fire near Rotterdam Stadion has shut down all trains heading south of the city since Monday (June 29), with no services expected until Thursday at the earliest.
If you were planning to travel south from Rotterdam today, you may want to opt for an alternative route. A fire in a cable duct has taken out various signals and switches on the line, leading to a slew of cancelled trains.
Which routes are affected?
According to Dutch rail manager ProRail, no trains are running between Rotterdam and Barendrecht, or between Rotterdam and Breda. The route towards the Kijfhoek freight yard is down too, as are various routes run by high-speed trains.
Five trains were stranded in the area when the fire hit, though ProRail says these have since been brought in safely.
How long until trains start running again?
ProRail’s latest forecast is that the power outage won’t be resolved until at least Thursday, July 2, at 6:15 PM. Given the fiddliness of the issue, that timeline could shift as the repairs progress.
The rail manager advises travellers to check the NS journey planner before setting off, in case of delays and additional cancellations.
Why are the repairs taking so long?
The cable duct near the station holds around 299 cables, and a large portion was damaged over a stretch of roughly 20 metres. Inspection has shown that at least 100 of them need to be repaired.
Each damaged cable has to be sorted and welded individually, then tested afterwards, because they all serve different functions. ProRail says the work isn’t especially complex, but it is slow going.
Four welders are working in two shifts, which ProRail says is the most the site can handle at once.
Want to make sure DutchReview pops up on your news feed more often? Just add us as a preferred news provider, and we’ll handle the rest.
