AMF-GOU NS Intercity – 2nd Class

Operator: Nederlandse Spoorwegen

Headcode: IC17xx

Route:    AMF-GOU

Class:    2^nd Class

Seat:     N/A

Date:     Thursday 6^th October 2022

During my trip to The Netherlands back in October and given Utrecht’s excellent location at the centre of the rail network, I decided to take the opportunity to explore the Dutch railways. My first aim was to travel on each of the five private operators that run services, the second was to try out the different types of Intercity train operated by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).

Whilst there are three types of train used by NS on their regular Intercity routes, these being DDZ, VIRM & ICMm units, this post will mostly focus on my journey from Amersfoort to Gouda onboard an ICMm unit. These units are probably the most well known of the Dutch railways fleet, owing to their unique shape and nicknamed ‘Koploper’ owing to their ‘walk through heads’. The raised cab allowed connected units to become walk-through, however during the units’ refurbishments in the mid-2000s, these connections were sealed resulting in the ‘walk through heads’ no longer being walk through.

Apart from my trip to The Netherlands on Eurostar (read about that here), all my journeys on this trip were in standard class, or as its called on the continent, 2^nd class. As such there was no lounge access, although upon investigation lounge access is not a standard provision for 1^st class ticket holders either. NS have International Lounges at Amsterdam Centraal, Rotterdam Centraal & Schipol Airport stations, however access is only included for 1^st Class International passengers (and various loyalty programmes). You can however purchase access to these lounges whatever ticket you have, for €6 an hour or €12 a day.

As mentioned above, the ICMm units underwent a refurbishment programme in the mid-2000s, including the interiors, meaning that these are now between 12 and 17 years old. Despite the age of the interiors, they are holding up well and the seats are comfortable, however this does mean that wi-fi, power sockets or USB sockets are not included. Seating is in a 2-2 configuration and whilst there is a mix of airline seating and bays of four, there are no tables available in 2^nd class on the ICMms.

Amersfoort is a key railway junction, with various local services alongside Intercity services connecting the East and North-East of the country with the cities of Amsterdam, Den Haag, Rotterdam & Utrecht. My service had started at the town of Enschede in the east of The Netherlands and would continue through to Den Haag after I alighted. My journey between Amersfoort and Gouda was about 40 minutes, but the longest Intercity services in The Netherlands can be above 3 hours.

Unfortunately for those travellers onboard Intercity services for longer distances, there’s no catering available onboard in either 1^st or 2^nd class, on any Intercity service in The Netherlands. For those travelling between Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem and feel they may require refreshments, then I’d recommend taking one of the six-daily ICE International trains in each direction, which have ‘BordBistro’ carriages. For me, a coffee from the kiosk at Amersfoort was sufficient for the 40-minute journey south-west.

The only stop between Amersfoort and Gouda for Intercity trains is Utrecht, the busiest railway station in The Netherlands and the centre of the rail system. From Utrecht you can get a train to pretty much every corner of the country and also to destinations further afield in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. A re-modelling of the track layout between 2011 & 2016 simplified the operation of Utrecht, with more grade separation minimising the number of conflicting moves and making the station run much more efficiently.

For both this journey and the other handful of Intercity services that I took during my trip, I found the Dutch rail system very efficient, with pretty much all my trains being on time. Even the oldest trains in the fleet, the Koplopers, were clean and comfortable, however the lack of catering or tables onboard do make me wonder how comfortable a long-distance journey would be. However, when I inevitably return to The Netherlands, I will definitely be exploring some more of it by rail!

Lounge              0*

Seat/Facilities     3*

Food               0*

Service             5*

Punctuality         5*

Overall Rating      13/25 (read about my rating system here!)