More and more people travel by train again. For a long time it has been terribly quiet on the train and on the track. Due to the corona pandemic, many people still work from home. So the numbers of travelers are still far from the same level as before the corona pandemic. An analysis of the passenger numbers shows that many people found their way back to the train in August. In March, the number of travelers dropped dramatically, leading to a low point in April. There were days when only nine percent of the number of train journeys was made compared to the same period the year before. That was, among other things, the reason for a special corona timetable that took effect in March and lasted until the end of May. Mouth masks were also compulsory on the train from 1 June.
'We now see between 40 and 45 percent of the normal number of travelers, says Tjalling Smit, member of the Board of Directors. It is still mainly leisure traffic. Travelers who take the train for business reasons or to get from home to work, we see much less on the train '.
Since June 1, travelers are allowed to make trips that are not necessary again, this of course also means that it is busier again at the NS. In the past holiday period, the train was also widely used for trips to family or to the beach, for example. It was a lot busier on the train, especially on the weekends. There were times when, on average, half the number of train journeys was made again, compared to the same period the year before. At times, the Dutch Railways even saw two thirds of the number of journeys made again compared to the same period last year. At the end of August there was also a revival in the number of train journeys during the week. Normally, when the holidays are over, there is a significant increase in the number of travelers per day, now during the corona pandemic things are different. Many people still work from home and this means that we are still lagging behind the number of travelers compared to last year.
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