That about a thousand passengers were stuck for hours on Thursday evening in a stranded train was an “exceptional situation”. That says the NS on Friday. Travelers’ association Rover believes that the train operator has dropped “very big stitches” in communication to the detained travelers.
The train left The Hague towards Enschede around 6 p.m. and stranded at Moordrecht in South Holland. Due to the power failure, train staff could not use the intercom to keep travelers informed. The conductor also found it difficult to get to another train set, according to a spokesman for the Dutch Railways.
On social media complained passengers of the train, among other things, about a lack of lighting, drinking and eating. The travelers were evacuated hours later.
According to the NS, this was an exceptional situation. Due to a technical defect, the train came to a stop on a fly-over, a crossing of tracks.
According to the spokesman, this made it difficult to evacuate the travelers. “Initially, an attempt was made to tow the train away, but this was not possible due to another technical defect.” The search for another train for the evacuation then took a lot of time.
The travelers were taken to Gouda and Utrecht by another train around 11:45 PM. The NS arranged fourteen taxis there.
NS says sorry to travelers
According to Rover, the NS has dropped “very big stitches” in the field of information provision. “We hear that travelers have literally and figuratively been kept in the dark for hours,” says the travelers association.
“We have often criticized the provision of information by the NS in the event of problems. Now we have a very recent example to denounce this again,” said Rover.
NS apologizes to travelers for the situation. “Their patience has been really tested,” says a spokesman. The rail company calls on people who have incurred extra costs to come home to report to the company’s customer service. In this way, the company can reimburse those costs.
