Trains run at the hour, but continue to complain!

ProRail had good news for train passengers on Thursday morning. Very good news, even. During the first half of the year, no less than 92.1% of the trains went as planned. With a margin of delay of five minutes, this percentage is even 96%. "Railway trains have never been so often to the Netherlands," according to the director of railways jubilant.

And yet, the same festive atmosphere has not prevailed in all travelers. The failure of trains, longer delays or overcrowded cuts frowns in a positive message from ProRail. Logically, the spokesman Jaap Eikelboom said. "Negative things always stay longer, this applies to everyone.When I spend a day with my kids and they cry ten minutes hard, I can feel at the end of the day that It was a bad day, while they were very happy the rest of the time.This is also true for traveling by train.A few more minutes on the platform, people wait longer than when the train leaves. at the time. "

Folklore

Moreover, it became a kind of national sport to complain about the NS. Acorn tree laughing: "It's now folklore to do that, and we should keep it that way! Traveler complaints keep us sharp, so we can work even harder on punctuality. But we can also look carefully at what's going on, and these numbers are very good, people who are skeptical about the numbers can see on our website the frequency with which a train is running at the time. "The foreign rail companies are jealous of our numbers "

In case of major breakdown, for example due to snowfall, it is always said that trains abroad continue to drive, even if there is a meter of snow on the rails. . Nonsense, says the proverb ProRail. "We always refer to Switzerland and Japan, but these railways are not comparable to those in the Netherlands, there are a lot fewer trains, we get monthly visits from all over the world because they want see for myself how many trains run at the hour here.I dare to say that we are one of the best boys in the world. "

Reliable

Disturbances are often caused by external factors such as collisions, fires or boats flying against a bridge, ProRail is often helpless in this respect. "But they end up on our plate. So we're looking at how we can do something from ProRail, "says Eikelboom. "We work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to make the rail even more reliable, but travelers can still complain, I would, if you're on a train at the stop 39, have nothing to do with the magnificent 96% of the trains that have to move. "