Suspected sabotage disrupted train services across central and northern parts of the Netherlands during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, September 15. The major outage, which occurred on Budget Day, brought rail travel in large parts of the country to a standstill, resulting in widespread cancellations and delays.
ProRail, the government agency responsible for railway infrastructure, reported that the disruptions were caused by objects being placed on tracks at around 30 separate locations. These coordinated actions led to signalling failures and railway section failures across multiple sites.
The company maintaining the rail infrastructure is treating the incident as deliberate wrongdoing. In response to the paralysis of the rail system, the government has called for an investigation to reveal the perpetrators.