A train accident in the Netherlands has left at least one person dead and 30 others injured. The incident occurred on Saturday when a passenger train derailed near the northern city of Groningen. Emergency services were quick to respond, and the injured were rushed to nearby hospitals for treatment. The cause of the derailment remains unknown, and an investigation is currently underway. The authorities have called for calm, assuring the public that they will do everything possible to find out what went wrong and prevent such accidents from happening in the future.
Early on Tuesday, a passenger train carrying approximately 50 people derailed in the Netherlands after hitting construction equipment on the track, resulting in one death and 30 injuries. The incident occurred in Voorschoten, a village near The Hague. The injured were treated at the scene by emergency services with 19 people taken to hospital. Television coverage showed passengers using makeshift bridges across a canal running alongside the rails to reach the train in darkness. Two train carriages were left perpendicular to the tracks lying across a small canal and partially in a field, with many windows broken. It was unclear whether that happened during the incident or as passengers attempted to leave the train.
The railway company NS confirmed that a passenger train, a freight train, and a construction crane were involved in the collision, with the cause of the incident not immediately apparent. Railway company NS said a thorough investigation must be carried out, and all attention is focused on the wellbeing of their travellers and colleagues. NS chief executive Wouter Koolmees said he is full of questions, and they wanted to know exactly what happened.
The regional co-ordinator of emergency services confirmed that 11 of the injured passengers were treated in homes near the line, and the others were taken in a fleet of ambulances to hospitals. Tragically, one person had died. The primary concern of the emergency services remained the wellbeing of the passengers, with a “calamity hospital” opened in the central city of Utrecht.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte took to Twitter and expressed his condolences: “A terrible train accident near Voorschoten, where unfortunately one person died and many people were injured. My thoughts are with the relatives and with all the victims. I wish them all the best.” Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima also expressed their sympathy on social media.
Ingrid de Roos, a spokeswoman for local fire services, told news show WNL; a small fire broke out at the rear of the train but was quickly extinguished. John Voppen, Chief Executive of the rail network company Pro Rail, referred to the incident as “a black day for Dutch railways” and confirmed that the cause of the accident is subject to investigation.
The derailment prompted calls in the Netherlands for quicker implementation of new technology designed to integrate train control systems and prevent crashes by bypassing human error. Dutch trains currently rely on an “automatic train protection” system called ATB, which was designed in the 1950s and primarily functions as a safety device to prevent trains from running through red signals. However, the technology does not provide collision avoidance or speed control.
Should the implementation of this technology be accelerated, it could significantly reduce the number of accidents in the Dutch rail network. Several companies, including Huawei and KMPG, are flirting with the technology, hoping to bring progress to rail safety. Uncertainty still remains regarding the country’s budget allocation towards new safety technology for their rail network, however.
