Over 350 travellers stranded after night train fault, 20 sleep in a train overnight

Last Monday, an international night train bound for Austria stopped near Arnhem, leaving over 350 passengers stranded. A dozen eventually spent the night in a train. 

The incident involved a Nightjet train that had departed from Amsterdam Centraal at 6:38 PM, and was due to arrive in Vienna the following morning.

However, a faulty overhead line brought the train to a halt a mere few stops into the journey, reports TreinReiziger.nl.

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Evacuation operations

Evacuation of the train started around 10:30 PM and lasted well into the night. NS provided the travellers with vouchers to book accommodation.

Most travellers found rooms within Utrecht. However, hotels in the area quickly filled up, leaving approximately 60 passengers without a place to stay.

While most travelled back to Amsterdam to find accommodation, up to 20 opted for the cosy alternative set up by NS — an empty train parked inside Utrecht Centraal. Gezellig!

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Delays and disruptions

The train line reopened around 7:30 AM, and travellers were able to resume their journey. After enduring a 13-hour delay, the passengers arrived in Vienna at 10 PM on Tuesday night. 

Naturally, other trains operating on the same line were also affected. For example, the Nightjet travelling the opposite route only reached Nuremberg, Germany, before the fault forced it to return to Vienna. 

Eventually, all Nightjet passengers in both directions were rebooked, and traffic slowly returned to normal throughout Tuesday. 

Would you ever consider sleeping in a parked train? Tell us in the comments below.