Extensive rail sabotage on Prinsjesdag reveals security gaps and prompts resilience plan

During the national ceremony on Prinsjesdag, ProRail identified a coordinated sabotage operation that affected over 35 points on the rail network, primarily in eastern Netherlands. Saboteurs placed precisely sized steel tubes between the rails, creating short circuits that switched signals to red and halted services. The method, while known from foreign incidents, was unprecedented in scale for the Netherlands.

Investigators suspect a protest by farmers, but no arrests have been made. In response, the ministry and ProRail are preparing a resilience plan that includes enhanced detection, physical barriers and the future deployment of drones, with priorities to be set in the 2027 budget. The new European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is also expected to improve response to such disruptions.