Dutch police are investigating a possible act of sabotage that on Tuesday caused the halt of large sections of the rail network in the country and resulted in delays and cancellations for passengers in central and northern Netherlands.
Finding Hazardous Materials on Rail Tracks
In a statement, the Dutch rail infrastructure operator, ProRail, announced: "Hazardous materials have been found at several points alongside the tracks that have been deliberately placed there. This has caused disruptions in parts of the rail network and it appears that sabotage has occurred."
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Details of the Incident and Investigations
According to a spokesperson, pipes have been attached to the railway tracks and illegal materials have been found at least 20 locations. This has led to several signal failures across the network. None of the perpetrators of this sabotage have been identified yet, and the national police are leading the investigations. ProRail has stated that their priority is to restore train services to normal as soon as possible while trying to preserve evidence.
Ant Bertram, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, described this hypothetical sabotage as "very concerning" and added: "It is now important that this matter is thoroughly investigated." This incident occurred on Prinsjesdag; a day that marks the start of the parliamentary year in the Netherlands and when the government presents its budget plans for the upcoming year.
This is not the first time the Dutch rail network has been severely disrupted on important days due to sabotage. During last year's NATO summit in The Hague, trains around Schiphol Airport were severely delayed due to a fire, and no one has been arrested in connection with that incident.
European countries are currently on alert due to concerns about increasing hybrid attacks on the continent. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced last month that Europe is facing "a campaign of increasing threats" aimed at dividing our union.
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