Emergency repairs to cause major train delays between Amsterdam and Utrecht

Travellers can expect major train disruptions between Amsterdam and Utrecht from Saturday, February 14, to Monday, February 16, as ProRail carries out emergency repairs on broken switches near Duivendrecht. 

Limited train traffic on Amsterdam-Utrecht route this weekend

From 12pm on February 14 until 6am on February 16, train services to and from Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena will be suspended. During this time, train traffic between Amsterdam and Utrecht, and Schiphol Airport and Utrecht will be very limited. 

NS has warned passengers to expect additional train transfers and longer journey times. “Because the necessity and extent of these repairs were only announced at a very late stage, we are working hard to map out the impact on the timetable as quickly as possible."

"We expect the revised advice for Saturday to be incorporated into the Journey Planner sometime this Friday, and for Sunday a day later,” wrote the Dutch rail company in a travel update.

ProRail to complete emergency repairs to broken switches

At the end of January, trains between Amsterdam and Utrecht were disrupted when two switches near Duivendrecht were damaged due to unexpected wear and tear. This led to several days of train delays between the two cities. 

Since the broken switches were discovered, a temporary measure has been in place, limiting the maximum speed of trains running on the route to 40 kilometres per hour instead of the usual 140 km/h. However, even with this lower load, the wear on the switches is getting worse.

For this reason, ProRail has decided to carry out emergency repairs to prevent a complete shutdown of the switch. “This would have even greater and longer-lasting consequences for passengers and rail operators,” the Dutch rail operator wrote in a press release.