Leiden buses, Fyra high-speed trains hit by problems

‘It is the first week and everything is new,’ Nos television quoted an Arriva spokesman as saying. ‘Soon it will be the Christmas break. In January you can expect us to be fully geared up.’

In particular, bus users in Leiden have been left in the dark about changes, local broadcaster Omroep West reports. It says buses have been too full or failed to arrive, there is no proper passenger information and the buses don’t say what their destination is.

Arriva told the broadcaster the problems in Leiden are not unexpected. The buses were taken over from Connexxion, which lost the contract, and there had not been enough time to update the technology. Many bus drivers are new and the poor weather led to overcrowding, Arriva said.

Local train services around Arnhem that have also been taken over by Arriva were also hit by delays and cancellations, Nos said.

High-speed

The new Fyra high-speed train service between Amsterdam and Brussels has also been hit by problems, Nos says. Services between Amsterdam and Breda have been cancelled and other services have been subject to long delays.

The first Amsterdam to Brussel service on Sunday was also hit by technical problems in Antwerp and arrived at its destination an hour late.

The new high-speed service is supposed to cut journey times between the two capitals to just over two hours.