Joost

For all you travellers that plan to visit the Netherlands in two weeks: please be advised the Dutch railway system will most probably be down on June 17 due to a strike. Problems are anticipated on all trains, including the Thalys, ICE and other highspeed trains. The strike is belied to last for 24 hours.

march123

Well, that's just great. How do you work around it? My daughter has paid reservations in Amsterdam until Jun 17 and then she is supposed to take the train to Paris where she has reservations starting the 17th. She has a 10-day Eurailpass and June 17 was supposed to be the first day she uses it.

What do people do?

PalQ

Most hotels will cancel reservations with at most a slight charge if in advance - i guess her only choice is to leave a day earlier or hope that these strikes don't come off - could be settled or that some trains run - otherwise she'll have to get to the Belgian border or look into a cheap flight. there are nearly no long distance buses in Holland it seems but she could look into Eurolines bus service but book early as with a strike everyone will be looking to hop the bus.

Joost

@march123: there are long-distance buses, but they don't run from Amsterdam to the border. Besides, traffic could very well turn ugly too, especially in bad weather conditions - the Dutch infrasystem is okay, but if just one part fails, it can be quite chaotic. Eurolines will be a good alternative I guess: http://webapp.eurolines.nl/websitenl/index_nlen.asp . Just don't expect it will run on time that day :^/

march123

Thank you Joost and PalQ. They will see how it is when it gets closer to time and maybe make a reservation on that bus!

march123

Joost (or anyone):

Do you know of a website where we can keep track of this strike?

Thanks

Joost

If you can read Dutch, the best sites would be:
http://treinreiziger.punt.nl/
http://www.9292ov.nl/9292ov587.asp

I've been unable to find any English sources on the subject, but I will keep you up-to-date when more information becomes available.

Anyhow, things don't look good right now. The ultimatum set by the trade union 'FNV' expired earlier today at 12:00. At this moment, the union and ProRail are not talking anymore. Third party mediation has been denied by the unions.

Investigations have shown that, although the union mentions the collective labor agreements are the only source of dispute, in reality problems are worse.

march123

Thank you, Joost. After looking at those websites, I guess my Dutch is not as good as I thought!

I would appreciate it if you posted any further updates you hear about. You are being so very helpful.

Joost

Just a quick update... nothing new except the international press is finally catching up on this issue. Check out http://www.expatica.com/source/site_...story_id=20937
(dated june 10th, but they may have more information as the week progresses).

Anyway, unfortunately things look worse every day. Since we are leaving for Portugal the 17th, we had to find alternative transportation too

march123

My daughter leaves for Amsterdam in 3 hours. I have printed out this English article for her but I'm sure she'll hear more when she gets there.

Thanks for all your help, Joost.