Timetable 2018

The NS timetable for 2018 contains various changes compared to the previous timetable. On this page you will find an overview of all important changes.

In the journey planner you can look up what changes on your daily commute.

The new timetable for 2018 will start on Sunday 10 December 2017.

Changes to the 2018 timetable

Below you will find the most important changes per region.


New stations

The following stations will be opened from 10 December:

New operators

From the new timetable onwards, the sections Zwolle-Kampen and Zwolle-Enschede will be driven by Keolis Nederland (formerly Syntus). Travellers on these routes now check in and out at Blauwnet, the new brand name for rail transport in Overijssel. Travellers on the existing Arriva routes Zwolle-Emmen and Almelo-Hardenberg and the existing Syntus/Keolis route Zutphen-Oldenzaal will also check in and out at Blauwnet.

Amsterdam/Schiphol - Utrecht - Eindhoven/Nijegen

The biggest change in the 2018 timetable is on the Amsterdam-Utrecht-Eindhoven axis, as the intercity trains will now run every ten minutes instead of every fifteen minutes. This has a considerable impact on the timetable for this route.

  • From now on, there will be 6 intercity trains per hour between Amsterdam and Eindhoven (every ten minutes a train). 4x/hr this connection is offered directly between Amsterdam Central Station and Eindhoven, 2x/hr this can be done via a switch in Utrecht.
  • The intercity's Schiphol-Utrecht-Nijmegen will continue to run longer, resulting in a quarter-hour Utrecht-Schiphol service until approximately 21.30 hours.
  • The 15-minutes interval from Utrecht Central Station to Nijmegen will be extended from Monday to Saturday to approximately 23:00 hours.
  • During the rush hour 6 sprinters per hour run between Utrecht Central Station and Houten Castellum. These do not call at all stations in the morning when they are heading towards Houten, and in the afternoon they do not call at all stations when they are heading towards Utrecht.
  • The connections in Geldermalsen and Tiel have changed as a result of which the switching time is considerably longer or even shorter than today. The journey time between Utrecht and Tiel also increases because the sprinter stops in Geldermalsen for longer.

Northern Netherlands

  • From now on, the sprinters between Zwolle-Kampen and Zwolle-Enschede will no longer be operated by NS, but by Blauwnet (Keolis). Keolis introduces an express train between Enschede and Raalte.
  • Between Leeuwarden and Meppel more trains will run on working days. A sprinter runs twice an hour until 20.00 hours, there is one sprinter every hour between 20.00 and 22.00 hours.
  • The intercity trains between Leeuwarden and Zwolle stop only at Heerenveen, Steenwijk and Meppel until 22.00 hours. After 22.00 hours the intercity stops from/to Rotterdam at all intermediate stations between Leeuwarden and Zwolle (the intercity to/from The Hague does not stop everywhere, but stops in Meppel).
  • The intercity train from Groningen connects well with the Blauwnet train to Enschede, so it is no longer necessary to travel via Deventer.

Western Netherlands

  • The new Boskoop Snijdelwijk station will open in December on the Gouda-Alphen route, and later in 2018 the Waddinxveen Triangel station will be opened.
  • An extra early Intercity Direct will run.
  • On Sunday, there are four instead of two intercity trains per hour between Alkmaar and Amsterdam Central Station.
  • There will be a direct train from Enkhuizen to Utrecht and further on to Eindhoven and Heerlen.
  • On working days there will be 2 extra intercity trains from Vlissingen to Roosendaal in the morning, in the afternoon there will be 2 extra intercity trains from Roosendaal to Vlissingen. These trains only stop in Middelburg, Goes and Bergen op Zoom.

Southern Netherlands

  • In Eindhoven, almost all departure times (and connections) have changed.
  • The sprinter Arnhem -'s-Hertogenbosch drives on to Breda and Dordrecht and therefore no longer to Eindhoven and Deurne.
  • The sprinter between's-Hertogenbosch and Deurne will be 7 minutes faster between Eindhoven and's-Hertogenbosch. This will change the connections. On working days, this sprinter will continue on to Oss in the rush hour. In the morning, this trains only calls at all stations from Oss to's-Hertogenbosch, and in the afternoon only in the direction of Oss.

International trains

  • In the course of 2018, the Benelux train between Amsterdam and Brussels will run via the high-speed railway line (HSL) and will therefore not call at Den Haag HS anymore. Once every four hours, an additional train will run from The Hague HS via Rotterdam and Breda to Antwerp and Brussels.
  • An international stop train from Eurobahn will run from Hengelo to Bad Bentheim and Bielefeld Hbf. This train will start running from Sunday January 14, 2018.
  • In 2018, major works will start on the German section of the ICE Amsterdam - Frankfurt. The ICE will therefore be diverted regularly via Venlo.
  • In the spring of 2018 there will be a Eurostar from the Netherlands between Amsterdam and London.
  • The stopping train between Roosendaal and Antwerp changes approximately 30 minutes of departure time (on working days).