Train travel between Rotterdam and Delft remains paralyzed until at least Sunday evening following a fire at a railway bridge. The disruption on one of the busiest rail corridors in the Netherlands affects trains that travel long distances, such as between the Randstad and Zeeland or Limburg.
Sabotage at the Delfshaven Railway Bridge
The incident unfolded at night at a railway bridge in Rotterdam-Delfshaven. ProRail confirmed that the fire was intentionally set inside a technical room. The door to the room was cut open and inside were smoldering cables.
According to inspections, 35 cables were damaged. Fifteen of those were burned completely through and must be replaced and re-welded. After the cables are replaced, various checks must be performed to determine if the trains can run safely again. Those checks take about eight hours.
Widespread Operational Fallout Across the National Rail Grid
The State Secretary called the arson on the railway bridge “very malicious and worrying.” ProRail does not rule out that this is a case of sabotage, but it must still be investigated by the police and fire brigade. ProRail states it will take at least until Sunday evening before the damage is repaired. It is possible that trains will only run again on the route on Monday morning.
Mariëlle Stoelinga, professor of risk management for high-tech systems, affiliated with Radboud University and the University of Twente, noted that the rail network is compartmentalized as much as possible so that a domino effect does not immediately arise. While there are various ways the rail network is secured, such as physical security like fencing and closed installations, it is impossible to secure thousands of kilometers of track at all times.
Investigation and Heightened Security Scrutiny
Police are looking for witnesses following the arson at the Schuttevaerweg railway. No one has been arrested yet. Whether there has actually been sabotage to the track must still be investigated by the police and fire brigade.
The incident follows an event on Prinsjesdag, when items were found on the tracks in thirty places in the country. Since the Second World War, it has hardly ever happened that the railway was disrupted by sabotage, but now it seems to have happened twice in a month.
