THE NETHERLANDS | Railways

[K_]

Originally Posted by AlexNL

From april 2013 there will be a service Antwerp - Breda every two hours, at the current price, without reservation or any ticket price flexibility.

What do they mean with "at the current price", as currently there is no Antwerp - Breda service... And what is their plan if the service turns out to be a huge success (which it well could become?)
In my opinion the best solution would have still been to merge the Noorderkempen shuttle with this service, and have an hourly IC Breda - Noorderkempen - Luchtbal - Antwerpen Centraal.

[Suburbanist]

Originally Posted by K_

What do they mean with "at the current price", as currently there is no Antwerp - Breda service...

I think they meant the current cost for a Breda-Antwerpend trip, which is € 12,60. It is just a political/marketing ploy since the distance between both cities will be shortened 38% with new HSL Zuid/4 services.

And what is their plan if the service turns out to be a huge success (which it well could become?)

Maybe they will introduce seat reservation then. Breda-Antwerpen trips will be extremely fast, 34 min IIRC (vs. 65 min today with IC + Benelux train).

It is likely this service could become the choice for people who want to travel without seat and time-specific reservation, instead of the regional train Roosendaal-Essen-Antwerpen. Since domestic Fyra goes to Breda, it would offer the elusive alternative people were looking for. Actually, it might be the case domestic Fyra Amsterdam-Breda + international Fyra Breda-Antwerpen, both without seat reservation, are still faster than current Benelux train...

[AlexNL]

Breda - Antwerpen will be 29 minutes, including stops at Noorderkempen and Luchtbal. The price will be the same as Breda - Antwerpen over Roosendaal.

Since it's a political agreement and a binding contract has been signed, it's unlikely that seat reservation will ever become mandatory on this Fyra. This, indeed, makes it an attractive alternative to Fyra Amsterdam - Brussels - and will potentially cannabalize it.

The worst-case scenario for Amsterdam - Antwerp is:
- Amsterdam - Breda (about 60 minutes with V250)
- Wait 30 minutes
- Breda - Antwerp: 29 minutes

Total travel time: 1h59
Current travel time over Roosendaal: 2h14

So yes, this is faster than the current Benelux.

[Theijs]

Originally Posted by K_

Introduce an hourly IC Breda - Noorderkempen - Luchtbal - Antwerpen Centraal.

Totally agree: let the Desiro's of NMBS prolongue their current journey to Breda. But of course a more prestigious V250 train should run there, of which the SNCB and NSHispeed will apparently only have enough by April 2013.
I still wonder why no early morning Benelux starting in Den Haag via Breda will be introduced at the 'empty hour' at the introduction timetable.

[AlexNL]

Tickets for Fyra have gone on sale at www.nshispeed.nl

[K_]

Originally Posted by Theijs

Totally agree: let the Desiro's of NMBS prolongue their current journey to Breda.

Better to use classe 18 plus I11 for this trip. Use Desiro's to run the Antwerpen - Roosendaal local every half hour.

[M-NL]

Originally Posted by Suburbanist

Actually this is a new management plan put to deal with winter conditions.

I know what they did, but I do not have to like it.

Compare NS to the SBB and JR East (the only 2 railways in the world that are considered to perform better then NS does): They do not need to half their services under snowy or low temperature conditions, so why do NS and Prorail have to? Also both SBB and JR East seem to have trains that can cope with these conditions a lot better and also their infrastructure and contingency plans are better adapted for the conditions that can be expected.

NS and ProRail still have a lot to learn before they can reach the current top levels. And I bet SBB and JR East are not satified with their current service.

[M-NL]

Starting next year trains in the Netherlands are not allowed to run on lower taxed 'red diesel' anymore.

Several rail cargo transportation companies have already complained about the fact that transport by ship can continue to use 'red diesel' and have therefore gained an unfair advantage. They're also worried that because of rising costs, not only the more expsensive fuel, but also track usage fees have risen, they can't compete with road transport anymore.

Suggestions have also been made to electrify all tracks in the 3 northern provinces.

[K_]

Originally Posted by M-NL

Several rail cargo transportation companies have already complained about the fact that transport by ship can continue to use 'red diesel' and have therefore gained an unfair advantage. They're also worried that because of rising costs, not only the more expsensive fuel, but also track usage fees have risen, they can't compete with road transport anymore.

When something changes there will always be complaints. Those same companies aren't complaining about the fact that in Switzerland track charges basically include electricity, whether you use it or not...

[Suburbanist]

The Lelystad - Zwolle higher speed connection has been opened. Trains are already running today, though full services only start, officially, with the change on the timetable tomorrow.

There were boasting that the line has been completed under budget without massive cost overruns and delays that have become the norm on recent rail projects in the Netherlands (Betuwelijn, HSL Zuid, Noordzuidlijn)

People waiting first trains in station Dronten


Royal train crossing the IJssel


Station Dronten

[Suburbanist]

It has been announced that after June's timetable change the night train network on the Rotterdam-Dordrecht-Breda-Tilburg-Eindhoven-'s.Hertogenbosch-Utrecht loop will be restored to 4 night trains per Friday and Saturday night. Until then, trains stop running after 2am

I work at a university, and students were complaining loudly about "their" train being taken off for 6 months (meaning: if they go out to other cities, they have to wait until 7 or 8am for the first train next day to come back).

The sense of entitlement of some students is quite staggering. They were complaining and staging a small protest as if it were a fundamental student right to have a night train to go party in other cities. Gosh.

Now on the costs: this limited night service, running only two nights a week (e.g., a total of 16 train runs per week on the whole one-way route), will cost € 1.150.000 per year (up from € 850.000 on the old 2007 contract). Security costs have increased, as NS says it needs some extra security on stations to prevent vandalism and loitering if they are to be opened at night and to use only 2-person teams of fare enforcers/conductors (apparently but not surprising, a train with many youth semi-drunk passengers is prone to confrontations with conductors over fares and rules of use).

Noord Brabant province is complaining that the night network on Randstad is covered by NS as a regular expense, and so should Noord Brabant routes. But NS says if it were to operate a night network in Noord Brabant, it would have to agree to demand for night trains all the way to Maastricht, Arnhem and Zwolle at least.

[AlexNL]

...which makes you wonder at what rate Arriva could offer a night train service. Or even a nightly express bus network.

[Suburbanist]

Originally Posted by AlexNL

...which makes you wonder at what rate Arriva could offer a night train service. Or even a nightly express bus network.

But I think the major difference in costs is not on train operation itself, but station operation. At least that is what I read on the BD newspaper.

Would it be possible to Arriva or Veolia to man the station at nights only? Wouldn't some duplicate staff be needed?

I think the station staffing should be shifted to Pro-Rail from NS.

[AlexNL]

Earlier today, an intercity heading towards Schiphol Airport caught fire in the vincinity of Abcoude. At the time of the fire, around 75 to 90 passengers were on board of the train. The train was evacuated quickly, nobody got injured. However, the fire did cause major disruptions until after evening peak hours.

Three youngsters were take into custody on the suspicion of arson, possibly with fireworks.







The train is of the type VIRM, consisting of 6 carriages. It can carry up to 750 passengers, of which 500 seated. The fire supposedly started in a toilet, destroying an entire carriage and severly damaging the adjacent carriage.

[Wilhem275]

Let me guess... "Let's see what happens if we throw a firework in the potty!" "Yeah, cool!"

Oh, my poor VIRMs... this is the second serious damage in a few months, after the Westerpark accident.


Would have been nice if the fire developed under the infamous Abcoude acquaduct

[Suburbanist]

'Was that other VIRM involved on the crash written off?

[AlexNL]

It hasn't been written off entirely: NS and NedTrain are looking into the possibility of fixing the coaches that suffered minor damages and reusing those to form new VIRM train sets.

[Suburbanist]

I found this schematic map of Dutch intercity services on the Metronetwerk blog

[steedness]

No connection between Leuwarden and Groningen?

[AlexNL]

The map is incomplete, it looks like it only shows the intercity network as operated by NS. There are many railway lines that have local trains operated by Veolia, Arriva, NS and others.

You can find an interactive map or a PDF version.