Dutch Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS) have announced, in collaboration with the Dutch government, plans for a new timetable for trains on busy routes, with a train running every 10 minutes from 2022.
The so-called 10-minute trains were announced on Tuesday, September 1, and will run on the Nijmegen - Arnhem - Utrecht - Schiphol route, as well as the Schiphol - Leiden - The Hague - Rotterdam route. This will mean that trains between these major Dutch cities will run every 10 minutes. A 10-minute train service already exists on the Amsterdam - Utrecht - Den Bosch - Eindhoven route.
Services on these two routes currently run with four trains per hour. This will be increased to six per hour from the beginning of 2022. These changes will result in less time spent waiting for a train, and more space and seats on the train for travellers.
State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven said in a statement that, even with the complications for travel caused by the coronavirus crisis, it was important to continue to develop train travel opportunities in the Netherlands: “The train is and remains a basic facility for many people to get to work, family or school... This [change] will ensure more trains on busy stretches of track, where hundreds of thousands of travellers normally travel every day.”
Deputy Mayor of The Hague, Robert van Asten, said the increased number of trains between Rotterdam and The Hague will make the city even faster to reach, with 48 intercity trains to and from The Hague every day hopefully making the train an even more attractive alternative to the car.
Van Asten also said there were plans for the future to improve The Hague’s train connections with other international cities: “We are continuing to work on The Hague's international ambitions for more direct international intercity trains, such as between The Hague and Düsseldorf and The Hague - Heerlen - Aachen.”