The railway sector has not dealt adequately with the onset of winter weather, according to Transport Minister Melanie Schultz.

"The handling of the problems on the track is not being carried out satisfactorily, in terms of managing the infrastructure and communicating to the traveller'', writes the minister in a letter to parliament. For that reason, she plans to send a more thorough analysis of the situation in the railway sector to the House in a few days' time.

The arrival of snow on Friday led to chaotic scenes at the weekend. The situation has been made worse by exceptionally low overnight temperatures that have led to points failures, train breakdowns and other technical problems.

For the whole of this week, Dutch Railways (NS) is running a modified timetable on many routes, with less intercity trains but longer and more crowded commuter services. So far, this has greatly improved the reliability of services.

(as/imm)

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