The NS will expand the timetable next year. From 2024, a total of 1,800 extra trains will run per week, according to a request for advice from the NS to regional authorities and passenger organisations. There will be more trains on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, because the number of commuters is highest then.
For example, in 2024 there will be four intercity trains per hour between the major cities instead of two. The Intercity Direct also runs three times an hour between Breda and Amsterdam over the high-speed line. That is now once more the intercity to Brussels with a surcharge and twice an hour with a transfer the regular intercity. In addition, there will be more sprinters. This is done, for example, between Rotterdam and Dordrecht and Arnhem and Nijmegen. During off-peak hours, the sprinters drive less on the Amsterdam Central – Almere Oostvaarders, Utrecht Central – Woerden, Utrecht Central – Hoofddorp and Leiden Central and Hoofddorp routes.
The train journey to the German capital Berlin will be thirty minutes shorter, partly because the train no longer stops in Almelo and other trains are being used on that route.
Furthermore, fewer sprinters will drive on a number of routes at quiet times. “After corona, travel behavior has changed permanently and at times we see fewer travelers on the train, such as on Friday,” the Dutch Railways report on their website. “In off-peak hours and on weekends, the number of travelers is already reaching pre-corona levels. Tuesdays and Thursdays have become typical commuter days. All this requires a different timetable than before,” said the NS.
Last year, the NS was able to run fewer trains because of a staff shortage. That shortage is now much smaller, the company writes in a press release. That’s why it’s got ‘more possibilities’.
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