
Dutch love to complain, so any train passenger will tell you the Dutch Railways are a mess. This isn’t true. Of course, there’s the occasional delay, and some connections suffer defects more often than others. But the Dutch railway network is actually more like a metro network, and the efficiency and punctuality at which it is runs is astonishing.
And once things are ‘good’, we start to expect ‘excellent’. Hence the complaints. But in practice, I hardly ever plan in extra travel time to allow for delays. So if anything, I was excited rather than worried that my train trip to Bratislava had two tight connections in it: thirteen minutes in Frankfurt Airport, seven in Vienna. I decided to take one local train earlier so as not to miss my first international ICE at Utrecht. Just to be safe (and grab a nice breakfast at the train station).
And once things are ‘good’, we start to expect ‘excellent’. Hence the complaints. But in practice, I hardly ever plan in extra travel time to allow for delays. So if anything, I was excited rather than worried that my train trip to Bratislava had two tight connections in it: thirteen minutes in Frankfurt Airport, seven in Vienna. I decided to take one local train earlier so as not to miss my first international ICE at Utrecht. Just to be safe (and grab a nice breakfast at the train station).