Heike Luiten, director of NS Worldwide: “The practice is ideally fitted to a relaxed vacation journey. The sturdy development additionally has a draw back. The variety of new trains isn’t rising on the similar price. It could subsequently be busier in sure trains throughout the peak of the summer time. We’re taking a number of measures to make sure a cushty journey and on the similar time stay up for extra and new trains from subsequent 12 months.”
The trains to Frankfurt and Brussels have been usually overcrowded final summer time. That’s the reason extra measures have been taken for this 12 months. For instance, a seat reservation is now necessary on the ICE to and from Germany and NS calls on home vacationers on the station to depart the worldwide practice for worldwide vacationers. The Early Chook tickets for the IC Brussels are actually solely legitimate in a pre-selected practice.
Luiten acknowledges that these sorts of measures aren’t best, however says {that a} structural answer is on the way in which as a result of inflow of latest rolling inventory from 2024. “The final word answer is extra and new trains. We’re working with companions on a serious growth. For instance, our latest Intercity (ICNG) may even run as Intercity Brussels and new trains shall be coming to Frankfurt (the ICE 3neo, ed.), making it simpler to make trains longer on that route and probably run extra typically.”
The most well-liked summer time locations are Paris, Brussels, London, Antwerp and Berlin. This summer time, the particular Solar-Thalys to Marseille will run once more. From 1 July to 26 August, the Thalys departs from Amsterdam each Saturday morning.
