Hallelulujah! A brand-spanking new train timetable is on its way just in time for Christmas! Come December, there will be more intercity and sprinter trains sitting festively wrapped under your tree.
Not only will there be more trains, but ProRail are doubling down on their planning techniques to get the maximum result. Instead of scheduling to the minute, they will begin scheduling in ten second slots after a successful trial at Utrecht Centraal. That means instead of a train departing at 10:15pm it will leave at 10:15:20.
What new trains will run?
ProRail laboured over the new timetable for months and released the details today ready to take effect in December, according to NOS. Those heading between Amersfoort and Utrecht will rejoice to discover an extra two intercity trains per hour gracing their timetable, bringing the total up to six per hour. Eindhoven and Dordrecht have a similar situation.
Over summer the train between Haarlem and Zandvoort will also up the ante, while those travelling on sprinters between Amersfoort and Harderwijk will also benefit from an increase.
Why are they increasing the number of trains?
Dutch Railways (NS) is popular. So popular that they more than doubled their maximum expected growth of passenger kilometres on railways, growing by 4.6 percent instead of 1.9 percent.
Original data showed the railway tracks could be completely full by 2030, but NS and ProRail now fear that we’ll reach this by 2027 instead.
What else are they doing to fix it?
Coming in 2020 will also be extra-long freight trains of over 740 meters, over the average 650 meters. In comparison, the longest passenger trains are around 390 meters. This will allow more transport of goods by rail. (Goods?! We love goods!)
What do you think of the rail changes? Will you benefit from them? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: NS