2025 timetable: more than 1,500 additional trains each week

With effect from the 2024 timetable, NS started running an additional 1,800 trains per week. Then in late 2024, NS also significantly improved its 2025 timetable. The 2025 timetable is the first timetable under the new main rail network concession, in which NS has agreed with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management to provide more and faster train services to the city and region. Our new timetable anticipates future passenger requirements and new infrastructure, but also features more trains than in the peak year 2019. Some major changes: 

  • We are expanding timetables across the country, both during rush hours and in the evenings and weekends. This means that we are running a quarter-hourly service on more routes again and passengers can catch an earlier or later train on several routes.

  • During the work on and around Amsterdam Central, the Airport Sprinter will run for most of the day, seven days a week. This is a Sprinter in which the driver is responsible for closing the doors and the guard focuses on passenger service. This new train concept runs every 7.5 minutes between Hoofddorp, Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Central.

  • We are also introducing the ultra-high-frequency Sprinter between The Hague Central, Rotterdam Central and Dordrecht. This sprinter already ran between Rotterdam Central and Dordrecht, but has been extended to The Hague Central in 2025. 

  • NS and SNCB have increased the number of trains between the Netherlands and Brussels from 16 to 32 per day. A new, fast connection has also been introduced, the Eurocity Direct, reducing passenger travel time by around 45 minutes. 

  • In the new timetable, the Intercity Direct between Breda, Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport will continue to Amsterdam South instead of Amsterdam Central. The Intercity Direct then continues to Almere and Lelystad, or via Hilversum to Amersfoort. 

Challenges remain 

The High Speed Line (HSL) will remain vulnerable in 2025 due to long-term speed limits and the delayed delivery of new ICNG trains. With more through trains running on the high-speed line, this vulnerability could also cause inconvenience in other parts of the Netherlands. We will continue to liaise with ProRail and work together to find solutions so that we can return to higher speeds on the HSL as soon as possible. 

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