Disastrous first-month record for Fyra train

The first-month report of new Belgo-Dutch train service Fyra makes for grim reading, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad reports today. Just over half of the trains run on time, and 5.6% of services were cancelled. On the Amsterdam-Breda and Amsterdam-Brussels sections, Fyra fares five times worse than domestic trains in the Netherlands. The statistics were provided by Failra, a website tracking the service’s performance level. According to the site, less than 55% of Fyra trains run on time and almost one in every five trains exceeds the international standard delay of 15 minutes. Dutch train operator NS Hispeed said that after a “turbulent beginning, punctuality is improving”. A spokeswoman pointed to the increase in the number of trains running on time. Shortly after the launch, the punctuality figure was 50% and has since increased to 75%. The NS Hispeed spokeswoman called it “hopeful, but not enough”. Passenger groups, meanwhile, are calling for the return of the old Benelux train service, which linked Amsterdam to Antwerp.