Despite what many commuters may feel about the railway system in the Netherlands, statistics show that in 2015, almost 90 percent of Dutch trains arrived on time.

ProRail also reports that the number of disruptions caused by malfunctioning railroad switches or signalling decreased in the past year.

At the same time, the Dutch railway operator admitted that travellers and freight companies did not notice much of the improvements. To address this, the operator intends to focus more on the highly disruptive malfunctions that impact travellers the most.

The Dutch government calls for trains being on time at least 87 percent of the time, which means arriving within three minutes of the scheduled arrival time.

Source of disruptions

Technical problems were the cause of 32 percent of all train-related problems in 2015, compared to 40 percent in 2011. Issues with the railway tracks were the source for nine percent of service disruptions.

External factors such as power outages, people on the tracks and accidents with persons, animals and vehicles are becoming an increasing problem for ProRail, for the first time accounting for more than half of all service disruptions.