joaoflux / digital / analog / culture

I frequently take trains between Amsterdam and Eindhoven. Averagely once a week there is a problem and the direct train is cancelled. Yesterday it was really bad and I had to change trains three times: In Utrecht, in a town of which cannot remember the name, let alone pronounce it and in s’Hertogenbosch. In the town of which I can’t remember the name the shop on the platform was very crowded due to the fact that people who would normally just travel directly between cities ended up here. The thought crossed my mind that the Dutch Railway is experimenting with dynamically rerouting travelers to where there is not much business. If that is what they’re doing, I must say that they are more successful that the french SNCF is with the experiment of replacing controllers at the platforms with robots (see post December 3rd 2006). All in all i was only one hour late on trip that usually takes about one and a half hour, which is a delay of only about 66%. Not so bad - I assume we’re in alpha testing since this kind of rerouting has not happened to me before.

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