Dutch railway company NS is expecting a huge number of passengers to board the trains in the coming month. September is the busiest month on the tracks, with a record number of passengers on the trains during that month last year.
Last year, September saw 35 million passengers travel by train, a new record. This year, NS is expecting to break that record and welcome 36,7 million passengers. September is the busiest month, as people are back from their holidays and the academic year starts back up.
In order to cope with the millions of extra passengers that NS will need to transport, the railway company is adding a few carriages to trains on busy routes; this means an extra 200 seats. Trains on the routes The Hague – Leiden, Rotterdam – Amsterdam and The Hague – Eindhoven will be equipped with these extra carriages.
On other routes, trains are already running at maximum length, something which is dependent on the length of the platforms on the route. A train can only be as long as the shortest platform on the route. NS has therefore asked ProRail to extend the platforms of nine big train stations.
Those travelling between 7.30am and 8.30am will experience the most nuisance caused by the busyness of the rail service. NS expects the most inconvenience during peak hours on the routes Haarlem – Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Utrecht Central – Amsterdam Bijlmer, The Hague Central – Leiden Central, Ede-Wageningen – Utrecht Central and Amersfoort – Utrecht Central.