ProRail: rail sabotage at 30 sites, check your journey planner
From about 05.30 on Tuesday morning, material was laid on the track or fastened to the rails at more than thirty locations across the central, eastern and northern Netherlands. It consisted of iron pipes, cables and metal bars. The signalling system read those stretches of track as occupied, signals turned red, and trains had to stop or slow down. At least 35 separate faults resulted. Near Steenwijk a train struck material lying on the track. Nobody was injured.
The worst disruption was around Zwolle, Deventer and Amersfoort. For hours no trains ran on Zwolle-Amersfoort, Amersfoort-Deventer or Deventer-Almelo. NS put on no replacement buses because too many routes were affected at once. Level crossings also stayed down, which held up road traffic. The journey planner was briefly overloaded by the volume of requests.
The police and the AIVD are investigating. Objects were found near Barneveld, Brummen, Lunteren, Putten, Twello, Veenendaal, Overberg, Oudewater and Olst, and those locations have been designated crime scenes. Nobody has claimed responsibility. There are indications that farm activists are behind the acts, but that has not been confirmed. Alongside the A2 near Breukelen, police arrested six people aged between 25 and 70 after straw bales were set alight and the smoke endangered traffic.
Prime Minister Rob Jetten called the sabotage "disruptive and life-threatening" and would not say whether it amounts to terrorism. The rail manager stresses that placing material on the track is life-threatening and unacceptable, and that it did not lead to accidents on Tuesday.
By early evening all tracks had been released and the timetable was restored. The last fault, near Rijssen, was cleared around 19.00. Expect possible delays on Wednesday: extra patrols and camera surveillance are in place. Check your journey planner before you travel. If you see objects on or beside the track, do not approach them yourself and call 112.