Rail company Arriva will operate a night train linking Groningen to the Randstad region and Schiphol airport, challenging the current NS monopoly of the core national network. Arriva initially wants to run the train once a week from Friday to Saturday night, Sikkom news site reports. If this is a success, more routes are likely to follow.
The train will depart from Groningen for Schiphol just before 2am. It is expected to stop at the stations Assen, Zwolle, Lelystad, Almere, Amsterdam South and arrive at Schiphol at 4am. Just after 5am, the train will leave Schiphol again to transport early travelers to the north.
Arriva submitted a request to the Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM), asking for permission to run night trains, in June last year. A few months later, ACM gave the transport company the green light to operate a new train service from 2023 onwards.
Since 2021, it is possible for operators to offer transport services at their own risk and without government concession, the so-called train transport based on open access. With these services, Arriva is responding to the growing demand for more national night trains.
