A station in the Netherlands may stop stopping trains because of refugees
Rail carrier NS may stop stopping its trains because of refugees at the station in Maarheise in the Dutch province of North Brabant. This was reported on January 15 by the portal NOS.
It is noted that not far from the station is a center for refugees. NS employees here are often threatened and sometimes attacked by asylum seekers, who also often evade paying the fare. According to NS, there were more than 2,000 reports of incidents at the station last year. Most of them concerned aggression from refugees.
The company has written a letter to Parliament requesting reimbursement of funds spent on passenger security. Additional staff and guards were brought to the station, fences and cameras were installed, and a permanent pass regime was introduced. These measures at Maarheise, as well as at two other stations, cost NS €2.3 million.
"If there is no structural solution, we may feel compelled to stop deploying security at Maarheise station. This could ultimately lead to a situation where we will no longer be able to serve Maarheise station," the carrier commented.
Earlier, on September 18, 2024, the Dutch government asked the European Union leadership to withdraw its migration commitments in order to tighten measures against unwanted migrants. It was reported that for 2023 the Netherlands received two applications for asylum per thousand inhabitants, which corresponds to the average European level.
