One man has lost his life, and his colleague remains in hospital after they both became unwell upon finishing their shift cleaning NS trains on Tuesday morning.
According to De Telegraaf, the cleaners were employed by Vebego to clean NS trains at Utrecht Centraal’s marshalling yard.
However, after finishing their shift, both colleagues fell ill.
A spokeswoman for the NS tells De Telegraaf that other employees witnessed this and called emergency services. Both workers then lost consciousness.
Yesterday, the news came that one of the cleaners had lost his life.
A complete mystery
What exactly happened to cause the colleagues to fall ill remains a mystery.
The NS has described the news as a “big shock.” However, they have already determined that the work environment is safe:
“We know that the workplace was safe. But it is now up to the police to conduct further investigation,” a spokeswoman tells De Telegraaf.
According to the NOS, trains are still being cleaned at the site.
What do you do when you have a city with an empty church and no central swimming pools? The Dutch city of Heerlen had this exact problem — and the solution was simple:
You convert the church into a swimming pool.
That’s right, St. Francis of Assisi Church is over 100 years old, but now, the pews will be switched out for swimming lanes.
Construction is still underway, but a rendering of what the pool will look like is causing quite the splash.
Heerlen says ‘hallelujah’ to this solution
Once the diocese of Roermond decided to withdraw from the beautiful church building, the municipality saw an opportunity to fix one problem using another.
Heerlen was in desperate need of a pool that could be accessed easily, and this church was in need of a new purpose.
Heerlen’s alderman for city development, Jordy Clemens tells Volkskrant about the decision:
“Here, in a special and serene atmosphere, you can swim laps in a 25-metre pool. That way, we preserve a national monument — and people who live in the city centre will once again have a swimming pool within walking distance.”
The pastors are in — literally
And the diocese has no objection to their church being repurposed. In fact, according to Clemens, “The pastor has already promised that he will take the first dip.”
Of course, some X users are making jokes about baptisms en masse.
Kansen voor baptistische stromingen voor spetterende doopfeesten:
"Heerlen wil zwembad in monumentale kerk: ‘Aansprekende plek die zorgt voor een wauw-effect’"https://t.co/r7b3PbRAKm
Translation: “An opportunity for baptist movements to host splashy baptisms”
While this is certainly innovative, Clemens tells Volkskrant that this is typical Heerlen behaviour.
“In Heerlen, we often choose to swim against the tide. To do things differently than you might expect. That is absolutely the case with the choice of this location.”
Dreams = crushed. Hearts = broken. Bottles = thrown. Fans = arrested. It’s all kicking off after yesterday’s disappointing 1 – 2 loss to England in the Euros semi-final in Dortmund.
Despite impressive support throughout the tournament, plus Links Rechts going viral, things turned sour for Oranje fans after the defeat, NOS reports.
In Dortmund, 26 people were arrested by German police.
Following the match, fired-up English and Dutch fans were involved in confrontations where bottles and chairs were thrown, and five people were injured.
Penalty? More like pain-alty
While the 100,000 Oranje supporters in Dortmund certainly made their frustration heard, they weren’t alone.
The entire country (and the world, if you count any anti-England supporters out there) feels betrayed by some of yesterday’s refereeing decisions.
Yesterday showed once again uefa referees are a joke. Whistling the whole game dead with curious decisions. The Netherlands and referees stays something weird. A referee banned for matchfixing in the past should not be leading a semi final on the Euros lol Gg to England 🤝
Things started well with a fast goal by Holland’s Xavi Simons after no less than six minutes of game-time. But then came England’s penalty. 👀
Many football fans are debating the legitimacy of the equaliser, with the foul that led to the penalty causing most of the controversy.
Not only was VAR not in position under guidelines to tell ref to look at monitor for Kane penalty, it also neglected to rewind two seconds to show Saka handballing it into his path. I really don't think pros looking at TV can be that incompetent. Stinks. #england#netherlandspic.twitter.com/fYZExwJnTK
Feel like you’re drowning in bills each month? Same here. But even worse is the fact that we’re probably overpaying for some of them — like our internet.
Yep, the Dutch Consumentenbond(Consumer’s Association) believes that people in the Netherlands pay too muchfor their connection to the World Wide Web.
And why’s that, you ask? Because of the dominant market position of internet giants KPN and Ziggo.
Third-most expensive internet in the EU
As the Consumentenbond‘s research shows, KPN and Ziggo own about 75% of the Dutch market. In a large part of the Netherlands, they are the two only providers that have their own cable network for internet at home.
As a result, Dutch internet prices are too high — and among the highest in Europe.
While a subscription with 100 Mbits per second only sets you back around €17 to €18 in Sweden and Denmark, the same deal would cost you a whopping €30 in the Netherlands.
Out of the 27 countries in the European Union, only Belgium and Portugal have more expensive internet services than the Netherlands.
Something needs to be done
Now, the Consumer’s Association is asking for a change.
“The internet market is completely locked. KPN and Ziggo are increasingly dominating the market, and that gives consumers less choice and high prices,” says Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumers’ Association.
Therefore, “we urge the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) to intervene so that the internet becomes affordable again.”
How much do you pay for internet in the Netherlands? Is it reasonable? Share your thoughts in the comments.
When it comes to NATO meetings, you might picture important world leaders debating serious issues. But what about being huddled around a screen for a very different kind of head-to-head?
How, exactly? Schoof hopes he’ll “get a note every now and then” with match updates before a television screen is set up in a side room of the conference centre.
NATO waits for the Euros
Schoof and Starmer are in Washington for their first NATO summits as PMs, so they will probably miss out on some of the action due to, you know, big meetings.
“I assume I will have to miss the first half, but I can watch the second half together with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. That will of course be extremely gezellig,” Schoof tells De Telegraaf.
Premier Dick Schoof gaat woensdag in Washington de tweede helft van Oranje kijken met de nieuwe Britse premier. pic.twitter.com/PX8jkrBbpZ
— Alexander Bakker (@alexanderbakker) July 9, 2024
Tweet translation: Prime Minister Dick Schoof will watch the second half of the Dutch team in Washington on Wednesday with the new British Prime Minister.
The two PMs are channelling their countries’ world-renowned football fandom, with Schoof confident in an Oranje win and Starmer ready to attend the final in Berlin on Sunday evening.
After more than 200 years, and with almost 2000 other bridges already lining the city, the residents of Amsterdam are getting something they’ve always wanted (aside from less TikTok tourism).
The municipality of Amsterdam and the broader North Holland transport region will jointly finance and build a bike bridge across the IJ, connecting Amsterdam-Noord with the inner ring of the city.
Amsterdammers will soon be able to save 10 to 12 minutes by cycling across instead of waiting and taking the ferry.
But before we crack open the beers, it’ll be quite a few years before we can finally cycle across the IJ.
Financing and planning
Planning and funding have already begun, but construction will only start as early as 2031 and will be ready as early as 2034. 😬
Isn’t it beautiful? 😍 Image: Gemeente Amsterdam
The Oostbrug (East Bridge) is estimated to cost €300 million, of which the municipality and transport region will each pay half.
In addition, Amsterdam will also reserve money to build and improve the cycling routes to and from the bridge.
More and more travellers
“There are a lot of homes and workplaces built in the whole region. The number of people who want to cross the IJ is increasing. The ferries can’t handle it.” says Amsterdam Alderman Melanie van der Horst.
Vandaag maakte Rijkspont 8 zijn laatste overtocht en kreeg een passend afscheid. Dit was onze laatste dieselpont. Al onze ponten zijn nu elektrisch.⛴️ pic.twitter.com/vTqvAHJYiT
Translation: “Today, Rijkspont 8 made its last crossing and received a fitting farewell. This was our last diesel ferry. All our ferries are now electric.⛴️”
They expect between 20,000 and 25,000 people to use the bridge every day.
After the Oostbrug, the municipality already has plans for a Westbrug (West bridge) to connect the NDSM wharf in Amsterdam-Noord and the Danzigerkade in Amsterdam-West.
Would you use the bike bridges in Amsterdam? Tell us what you think in the comments below.
With this morning’s tropical temperatures, you’d be forgiven for heading straight for the beach. But today, you’ll have to be quick to beat the impending storms—which have now been upgraded to CODE ORANGE.
Today’s forecast might just be the mother of all Dutch weather mood swings, as shared by RTL.
Code ORANGE crashes the party: The KNMI has issued a Code Orange for the WHOLE of the Netherlands tonight, explaining that “we will experience intense thunderstorms, large hail, and heavy gusts of wind.”
Code Orange applies first in Zeeland from 16:00, followed by all other provinces as the storm moves across the country from the southwest.
It’s going to be rough. Expect lightning strikes, heavy rain and howling winds, which Erasmus says could reach up to 100 kilometres per hour.
Wild weather whiplash
The day begins sunny and reaches a tropical 31 degrees Celsius in the southeast — the perfect summer forecast we deserve after six months of winter.
But then, around 5 PM, the ultimate weather 360° brings SERIOUSLY heavy thunderstorms, strong winds, rain and hail, with Zeeland hit first.
Hopefully, by midnight, it will be calmer as the showers make their way from Zeeland to the northeast.
And if you’re wondering how this might affect tomorrow’s semi-final viewing, don’t worry. Wednesday should be much drier and a sweet 24 degrees across the country.
Are you hoping to enjoy the sun before the storms later? Let us know in the comments below.
The Netherlands’ bid to become Euro 2024 champions continues in Dortmund on Wednesday night for a semi-final showdown with England.
Neither side made easy work of their quarter-final wins as England scraped through on penalties against Switzerland, and the Dutch came from behind to beat a spirited Turkey 2 – 1.
Now all eyes turn to Dortmund, Wednesday, 9 PM. But will this game be any better for fans’ heart rates?
The English predict an equal match
We’ll see whether the Netherlands’ dominant “Links Rechts” chanting can be out-sung by the classic croons of “it’s coming home” from English fans.
For now, the English media is already making a lot of noise with their pre-match hype.
The Daily Mail believes the Holland side is “not brilliant” and “quite an average Oranje” but recognises that “England are not great either”.
All in all, the Dutch fighting spirit is their biggest asset — closely followed by super sub Wout Weghorst, who made all the difference in Saturday’s quarter-final.
But bookies say it’s coming home
So far both England and the Netherlands have enjoyed what most people are calling the ‘kinder’ side of the tournament’s draw (other adjectives include ‘easier’ or ‘ridiculous’).
But whatever you want to call it, the Dutch side are in their first Euros semi-final for 20 years and the grand final is in sight. 🤩
After a successful connection between Brussels and Prague, the European sleeper is working on a route to Venice and the Alps.
According to Treinreizigers.nl, the new sleeper train will run from February 2025 until easter in April.
The Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Utrecht will get access to the sleeper, travelling via Belgium to the Austrian ski resorts and then to Venice as the last stop on the route.
Connecting capitals
The European Sleeper train has been running three times a week between Brussels and Berlin since May 2023.
At the beginning of 2024, the route was then extended to include Prague, Czechia and Dresden, Germany, connecting four European capital cities by night train.
Welcome aboard the inaugural European Sleeper train ES 453 Bruxelles-Midi – Praha hl.n. via Antwerpen, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Dresden! The train is 15 cars long. pic.twitter.com/XJOWwTXD5S
European Sleeper co-founder Elmer van Buuren says that the train is meant to leave Brussels on a Wednesday and return from Venice on a Sunday. “The ticket prices are also more attractive than an airplane ticket to the Alps during peak season.”
The budding train company is hoping to extend its routes to the south of France and Barcelona by 2025 or 2026.
Tickets for the current sleeper train from Brussels to Prague via Amsterdam and Berlin are currently available.
Will you be trying out this new sleeper train? Tell us in the comments below!
In the Netherlands, cash isn’t king — debit cards are. But, while cash is also widely accepted, you may be surprised when arriving in this popular country that Mastercard, Visa, and American Express are sometimes not.
So, what do the Dutch use, and why are you being left red-faced and unable to pay at the local supermarket?
As someone who has also endured this embarrassing moment, let me tell you why.
So, why don’t your bank cards work in the Netherlands? Well, the majority of the Dutch use Maestro (a payment platform owned by Mastercard) or regular debit cards.
Maestro is a debit card system that is similar to Visa or Mastercard, which most comparable countries use.
Don’t have a debit card? Note that it is most likely needed in the Netherlands! Image: Freepik
Whether a shop will accept or decline your foreign card is completely up to the owner.
Credit card transactions cost the owner a lot more than debit card sales, and the Dutch love to save money.
Good to know: With Maestro currently in the process of being phased out, this may not be an issue for much longer!
Communication breakdown
The way different cards talk to credit card machines and the corresponding banks is also a point of trouble.
Maestro cards work on a single-message debit system, where when you swipe your card, the money moves from your bank account to the merchant.
However, most other payment platforms now rely on dual-message debit and credit cards, where when you swipe your card, your bank makes a “promise” to the merchant that the money will be there.
A few days later, the merchant will present these “promises” to the bank and collect their dues.
This is why credit transactions typically show as “pending” and offer an “available” and “current” balance.
Dutch people typically don’t like credit cards in general because the Dutch are very debt-adverse people.
In fact, in Dutch, the word for debt — schuld — also has another meaning: guilt.
As a rule of thumb, if the store services a large portion of international customers (for example, at tourist locations or similar), they will accept Visa, Mastercard, and sometimes American Express.
A lot of payments won’t work without a Maestro in shops, restaurants, or grocery stores! Image: Freepik
Maestro is no longer the favourite in 2024
Don’t ditch that Visa Debit card just yet though, as it’s slowly but surely becoming more fashionable in the Netherlands.
Since July 1 2023, Maestro-branded debit cards are no longer available, reports Betaalvereniging Nederland (the Dutch payments association).
Maestro cardholders are often left high and dry when attempting to pay for things abroad — such as when trying to book flights, in my experience — as their cards don’t allow them to pay in regular shops or webshops based outside of Europe.
As a result, newer Visa Debit and Debit Mastercards are being rolled out to fix these issues. (Better late than never, I guess! 🙌)
When exactly you’ll receive your new Visa Debit card or Debit Mastercard depends on when your specific bank decides to roll them out — but if it hasn’t already, the change is coming!
Okay, so what’s the deal with iDEAL and Tikkie, then?
You’re online, creeping around and doing a bit of splurge shopping.
Stoked with your purchases, you click on the magical checkout button to send the items fluttering to your door. Suddenly, “huh? iDEAL only?”
With online shopping basically made for credit cards, and the Dutch not liking credit cards, these totteringly tall people needed to find an alternate solution that would still let them fulfil their online shopping desires.
iDeal utilises online banking to make a direct transfer to internet vendors via a Dutch bank account.
Sound eerily familiar? Well, it certainly shares similarities with Maestro’s immediate transfer from one bank account to the other.
However, some websites only accept iDEAL, which means you need to have an online bank account, which means — you need a Dutch bank account. Yeesh!
Be aware! A lot of online shopping apps or websites won’t let you pay without iDEAL! Image: Pexels
But hang on. What if you want to use your Dutch Maestro card to do some online shopping on a foreign website?
Well, it looks like that Maestro card isn’t accepted! You kept your old Visa Debit card, right?
This increasingly frustrating dilemma is another reason why the Dutch chose to roll out debit cards in 2023.
So how can I spend all my hard-earned euros?
Thanks to the gradual rollout of more Visa Debit cards and Debit Mastercards it is now easier to get by in the Netherlands without a Maestro card or iDEAL.
However, I still find myself needing my Maestro card in order to pay for certain things. So I would still recommend trying to get one if you plan on staying here long-term.
If you can’t get a Maestro-only card from your home bank, then you’re left trying to get a Maestro card in the Netherlands. The easiest solution, then, is to open a Dutch bank account.
Finally, if you can go without online shopping at some retailers, you may just find that cash is still king.
But, if you’re averse to paying stodgy ATM fees and against carrying large amounts of cash, this probably isn’t for you.
What’s your experience with banking cards in the Netherlands? Tell us in the comments below!
Why don’t my bank cards work in the Netherlands? Frequently Asked Questions
Why isn’t my Visa Debit card recognised as a debit card in the Netherlands?
In the Netherlands, Visa Debit cards are recognised as being credit cards, and many Dutch stores do not accept credit cards. This is because Visa Debit cards work on a dual-message debit system, which is the same system used for credit cards.
What is iDeal?
iDEAL is an online payment system that circumvents the need for the Dutch to have credit cards.
Instead of filling out your card information when paying for something online, iDEAL takes you directly to your personal online banking website, where you transfer the money directly to the business owner.
How do I replace my Maestro card with a Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard?
Once your bank makes the switch, you will automatically receive a new Visa Debit or Debit Mastercard in the post. There is no need to apply for one.
