Today I'm going to ride an Intercity train with a unique look,
on a short trip in Second Class aboard this iconic Dutch train.
We'll travel through the typically flat scenery of this country,
while we discover just what makes these trains so special.
Hello, and welcome back to another video. Today I'm at the spectacular Rotterdam Centraal station,
and I'm going to be travelling with the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways)
over to Amersfoort. I'm going to be on one of the Intercity trains for this journey, so let's go!
Welcome to the new Rotterdam Centraal.
A futuristic station fully reopened in 2014, with a grand design that is instantly recognisable.
This new building was built to replace the former 1950s station,
which suffered from capacity problems as a result of rapidly growing passenger numbers.
And let's be honest, it wasn't exactly the most grand of stations either...
One aspect of the old station that was kept is the lettering and clock,
which are proudly displayed here above the main entrance
With the Netherlands being a country invested in sustainable transport,
it's no surprise to find massive swathes of bike storage at such a major station.
There are also good connections to other forms of public transport, such as the metro and trams.
Anyway, time to head into this modern station ahead of my train's departure.
The station's interior is every bit as grand as the outside, feeling very open and modern.
It features a large selection of takeaway food and drink options,
which comes in handy due to the unfortunate decision to remove catering from trains.
Also in the main concourse is a selection of ticket machines, and the staffed ticket office.
Though be warned that getting a paper ticket will result in an additional fee.
Departures from this station run to all corners of the Netherlands and
some international destinations, but my train today is Intercity 547, the 13:05 to Meppel.
Access to the platforms is only granted following an automated ticket inspection,
which unlike those I've used in some countries was simple and painless.
This then leads to the station's main tunnel,
from which you can access all platforms, as well as additional shops and food outlets.
My train is leaving from Platform 14, at the far end of the station.
And here's my train, a 1970s-designed type ICM or Intercity Materieel. Nicknamed the 'Koploper'.
The type is probably best known for having its cab all the way
up HERE of all places - but more on that later.
These units come in three and four car formations, with the ability to work in multiple when needed.
My train today will be formed of 2x three carriage units.
I'm travelling in Second Class today, and seats cannot be reserved,
so let's not waste any time getting on-board.
Second Class is in a 2+2 layout, with a good mix of airline-style and bay seating.
This forward-facing airline style seat here is as good as any other!
Today's route starts here in Rotterdam, the Netherlands' second-most populous city.
We'll be heading east, passing through the city of Gouda before arriving into the major station
of Utrecht Centraal, where the train reverses for the last leg of the trip over to Amersfoort.
This trip is scheduled to take 57 minutes, to cover the 77km (or 48 miles) of track.
Departure is on-time at 13:05.
The journey begins with a ride through Rotterdam's suburbs,
for a short while riding alongside the high-speed line to Amsterdam.
Intercity services like this one bypass many smaller stations,
and are therefore a much more efficient way to travel than the slower Sprinter trains.
Unlike Intercity trains in other parts of Europe though, the Intercity trains
in the Netherlands are limited to just 140km/h.
Our first stop is Rotterdam Alexander, after about eight minutes.
This station is named after Alexander, the Prince of Orange.
Back on the move, and it's time to look at the interior.
First up, the seating.
It's reasonably comfortable, with decent padding and a good shape.
There's a leather headrest on top too.
A downside has to be the seat cover's material, which is some sort of horrible rough vinyl thing.
You can see the wear and tear, and it's not a good look.
There's a big leather armrest found at all seats...
...as well as some reasonably sized seatback tables, complete with a cupholder bracket.
Legroom is definitely adequate,
though I did find that the bins did get in the way of my legs a little bit.
We'll have a walk around the train a little bit later on, including the surprisingly great First
Class carriage, but first a little bit of history behind this train's strange shape.
Here's an older photo of an unrefurbished ICM unit.
Among other slight changes, the key difference is the door on the front.
In the past, when two units would couple together, a gangway would fold out,
allowing through passage between units.
The raised cab allowed passengers to use the gangway,
it's just in a very different style to other examples of units with gangways.
Unfortunately, due to poor reliability this feature was
removed in the 2006 refurbishment of the fleet.
We're now crossing over the Gouwekanaal, a heavily used canal built in 1936
to avoid the arduous and time consuming process of routeing ships through the centre of Gouda.
This is closely followed by a stop at the station of Gouda. And yes, before you ask, this is in fact
the place the cheese gets its name from, the city being where all trade of Gouda cheese historically
took place, even if produced elsewhere due to the city then having exclusive trading rights.
Our journey continues through the endless flat farmlands of the Netherlands,
and with landscapes like this, it's no surprise that the Dutch love cycling.
If the flat scenery fails to keep you entertained, then the train is fitted with free WiFi,
however the speed is somewhat slow.
So, time for a look around the rest of the train!
First of all, we come to the toilet. I was a little bit confused about how to get in at first,
but it turns out you just open up the entire wall.
Unfortunately this really wasn't in a good condition, being absolutely coated with graffiti.
This was a shame, as the soap, water, and hand-dryer were all in working order.
This sort of vandalism was actually a common theme throughout the entire train,
with graffiti and various broken fittings.
Moving on we can find the First Class section, consisting of red leather seating in a 2+1 layout.
But the biggest surprise here in First Class is the presence of
2x six-seater compartments. Sure, they're missing the door and window
blinds for example, but I thought this was a really nice addition, for a unit.
At one end of the train, there is some room for bikes, but with Nederlandse Spoorwegen's cycle
policy only allowing travel in off-peak hours, and even then having a hefty charge of €7.50,
you may be better off just leaving it at the station.
It's not long before we're approaching Utrecht. This is the Netherland's fourth largest city,
and also the location of Nederlandse Spoorwegen's headquarters since the company's founding in 1938.
Naturally, the station is a busy one, with no less than sixteen tracks for passenger trains.
The station sees a very frequent service, with a train to Amsterdam running at least
every ten minutes. There's also an international ICE service,
linking the city with Frankfurt every few hours, and Basel once a day.
From here, the train reverses for the last few minutes over to Amersfoort.
This trip cost me €15.50, for an off-peak ticket valid on any train outside of the
defined peak periods of 06:30 to 09:00 and 16:00 to 18:30. On this journey,
that gives a price per mile of about 27p, which I think is pretty expensive all things considered.
The train arrives into Amersfoort Centraal just one minute late,
pretty punctual considering the density and complexity of the Dutch railway network.
This was a nice journey on the Nederlandse Spoorwegen Intercity train.
A comfortable and speedy ride, with a great service to all parts of the country. However,
I really didn't like the poor condition of some parts of the train, somewhat to be expected on an
intense service, but still disappointing. I also think that the price was a little bit too much,
though I can somewhat understand this, due to the frequency and convenience of the service.
If you enjoyed this video, then I recommend that you also check out the video on-screen now.
Thanks for watching, and I look forward to seeing you on my next journey soon!