Road users, commuters and commuters in Schiphol encountered problems on Saturday due to the delays. Many Dutch have had to drive slowly in Germany and France due to the holiday crowds, trains in Randstad in particular have been canceled due to staff shortages, and queues in Schiphol are once again far from the departure hall.
In Germany, traffic moved slowly south of Munich in the Austrian direction of Kufstein on Saturday morning, ANWB reports. The delay here was up to an hour and a half. It is also busy on the road to the Tauerntunnel via Salzburg.
In Switzerland, there are traffic jams at the Gotthard Tunnel and the busiest San Bernardino Tunnel. In France, road users primarily on the A7 motorway between Lyon and Valence, experience delays, in part due to bad weather.
Randstad’s train traffic in particular faced many problems due to train failures as a result of staff shortages at NS. Problems occurred on the routes Amsterdam – Alkmaar, Amsterdam – Utrecht and Utrecht – The Hague. This resulted in additional travel time.
Both NS and Schiphol are understaffed
There are approximately 11,000 vacancies in railways. The railway company lacks not only drivers and conductors, but also IT personnel, mechanics, security personnel, service personnel and shop personnel at the stations.
Because of the large crowds, lines formed at Schiphol Airport again in the open air. The airport is experiencing a staff shortage this spring, which means passenger waiting times are increasing exponentially. Schiphol himself describes the crowds on Saturday as “manageable”, but messages are circulating on social media for disgruntled travelers who had to wait for hours.
“I didn’t believe in hell until I got to Schiphol”
One traveler wrote on Twitter: “I didn’t believe in hell until I got to Schiphol today.” The message includes pictures of long queues inside and outside the departure halls.
Because of the crowds over the weekend in Whitsun, office staff were also deployed to manage crowds at the airport. These staff, among other things, help check flight times for passengers, who are allowed to enter departure lounges at least four hours before their flight.
