NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) abandoned a traditional timetable model based on the five-day working week at the timetable change on December 10 to reflect changes in the travel patterns of commuters, students and school children following the Covid-19 pandemic.

NS is now operating longer trains on Tuesdays and Thursdays, which are now recognised as the most important working days. Overall train frequencies are highest on Monday-Thursday, with a noticeable reduction in service levels on Fridays. For example, the Arnhem - Utrecht - Schiphol - The Hague - Rotterdam IC service is operating at 10-minute intervals during the peak on Monday-Thursday but at 15-minute intervals on Fridays.

However, the frequency of some IC services has increased under the new timetable, from two to four trains per hour on working days off-peak. This includes the direct Amsterdam - Breda service via HSL-South, which is again running to Breda having been limited to Rotterdam under the 2023 timetable.

Services on HSL-South will be increasingly operated with the new ICNG high-speed trains during 2024.

In contrast to IC trains, some Sprinter services have been reduced from operating at 15-minute intervals to half-hourly. All weekend regional NS services, which are categorised as Sprinter, are also operating at 30-minute intervals, an increase on previous service levels on some routes.

Notable changes in the regional sector include Arriva Nederland taking over from Keolis operation of the Zutphen - Hengelo - Oldenzaal and Almelo - Mariënberg services. Arriva Nederland has added seven Lint 41 DMUs to its fleet to operate these services.

Meanwhile, Keolis began operating regional services on the Vallei Line, the electrified line between Ede-Wageningen and Amersfoort, taking over from Transdev subsidiary Connexxion, which had operated the service since 2006.

Keolis has rebranded the service as RRReis, dropping the previous Valleilijn brand. It is using five two-car Protos EMUs on the route, which are reputedly the most reliable rolling stock on the Dutch network, and will undergo an overhaul, including interior refurbishment and a new livery.