Delays on the drielandentrein

After years of delays, the drielandentrein finally started operating at the end of June this year. However, despite all the planning and waiting, the train connection between the three countries is not without its hiccups. Earlier this week, Rover, the public transport traveller’s association, expressed their disappointment with the reliability of the drielandentrein. For starters, Arriva still has staff shortages which started during the pandemic and shortages in train equipment. In an interview with L1 News, Arriva responded by saying they are actively recruiting and training drivers and take immediate action to repair any issues on the trains. It would be interesting to understand the nature of these equipment failures and if they were also observed during the tests.

Another problem affecting Arriva and its passengers is that delayed freight trains are sometimes scheduled between passenger trains in the region. Arriva mentioned that they have limited control over the freight transport but are in communication with various parties to minimise the impact on passengers.

Any delays between Aachen and Heerlen have knock-on effects, as passengers travelling from Kerkrade to Eindhoven via Heerlen miss their connecting trains. The Kerkrade-Maastricht train stops at platform 4 at Heerlen, where passengers travelling to Eindhoven, Utrecht, and beyond have a 2-minute window to make their cross-platform transfer. If the train is missed passengers then have to wait 30 minutes for the next connection. The drielandentrein also uses platform 4 at Heerlen, so delays to this train result in the Kerkrade-Maastricht train having to wait.

Unlike the freight delays, this I can track. Using Treinposities.nl and checking departures on 29 August we’re able to see a few examples of delays in the drielandentrein causing delays in the stoptrein from Kerkrade Centrum. However, if the delay is minimal, roughly 1-2 minutes, the departure of the Intercity towards Eindhoven is also delayed so passengers can make the connection. There were instances where this wasn’t the case and the connection was missed. Delays of 3 minutes or more always result in a missed connection.

Curious to verify the data for a different day, I began rewinding the date picker and realised how frequently the trains were disrupted. Just by randomly selecting a few dates, I saw disrupted services on 8 July, 15 July, 17 July, and 14 August due to a shortage of staff and disruption on 13 August because of “restrictions in equipment deployment.”

Rover has suggested splitting the 300-meter ¹ long platform 4 at Heerlen into two, similar to the long platforms at Amsterdam Centraal and Station Venlo. This would allow both the drielandentrein and stoptrein to arrive and line up at the platform minimising the impact of a delay. Arriva has said they are considering this among other options but did not elaborate further. I hope we’ll be seeing timetable changes to resolve this in 2025.

Update 2024-11-10: Added header image and author tag.