This is the INCREDIBLE new Dutch high-speed train!

This is the future of Dutch railways (or Nederlandse Spoorwegen / NS), the brand-new ICNG. It's a high-speed unit that will soon be everywhere in the Netherlands (and even on some lines abroad)!

Join me in First Class, as I travel on the InterCity Direct (ICD) between Breda and Amsterdam via Rotterdam, to try out this modern train...

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Journey Details:
Origin: Breda
Destination: Amsterdam Centraal
Company: Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)
Train: NS 3100 'Intercity Nieuwe Generatie'
Accommodation: First Class Seat (1st)
Distance: 116 kilometres / 72 miles
Price: €43.19 (£37.20 / $47.50)
Time: 1 hour 7 minutes, arrived 2 minutes late

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Find me elsewhere:

[JulianGommers]

As an employee of NS I'd like to reflect on soms points you mentioned in the video.
First the cleaning regime you mentioned. The bins in the trains are emptied every head stop (at big stations) and all trains are cleaned thoroughly every 48 hours. ICNG trains drive around 17 hours per day continuously, traveling around 800-1200km daily with very little stopping time at the end of it's routs. As you mentioned it sees a lot of people who are all allowed to eat and drink on the trains. Therefor the chances of it getting dirty with breadcrumbs or other spills is very big. It's possible to clean it more often but that would also mean the trains would run less frequent than they are doing now (every 30 minutes or 34 times per day, one way). Another possibility would be to make the halting time longer for cleaning but that requires space to halt where the train can be cleaned and this space is not provided by the Dutch rail infrastructure management company ProRail.

Some people mentioned in the comments here that graffiti vandalism is a big problem and I can confirm this. Graffiti vandalism is removed as soon as possible with at least a hand full of trains being cleaned daily. Trains with blocked windows or offensive texts get priority and are almost directly taken out of service if possible. But remember that taking a train out of circulation also means you need to have another train which has to replace it and this is not always available. ICNG is coated with special plastic wrapping which can be removed and re-applied to speed up this cleaning proces as graffiti is extremely difficult to remove from the outside of the train. NS looses multiple millions of euro's every year on cleaning of graffiti vandalism.

NS is a private company accountable to the Dutch government (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management). It has one shareholder: the Dutch government (Ministry of Finance). We are obliged to make a profit, which is returned to the government. NS receives almost no subsidies, therefor the prices of the tickets are as high as they are. Yearly we have to pay a fee of ~€200 million to be allowed to drive on the Dutch trail systems and have to pay ~€300 million to the infrastructure manager ProRail (also private) for usage of the electricity. For every km we drive on the HSL-track between Rotterdam-Amsterdam, the Dutch government charges an extra fee on top of the regular fee, which is the supplement that travelers pay. Most shops on the train stations are owned by NS Stations and run a profit. But unfortunately using this profit to make travel tickets less expensive has been prohibited by the Dutch government, as well as using the income from advertisement.

[BuzzinsPetRock]

As I said before: don't bother with first class in Dutch trains.
It only makes sense if you travel during rush hour and the seats in second class are filled. Or if you get your employer to pay for it.
Other than that, just get a second class ticket.

[Dylans-Depot]

ICNG train driver here. My honest opinion is that it's an okay train. Not great, okay. The acceleration on the HSL above 140 km/h is worthless. When going uphill while giving all power that it has it slows down! Parts of the protective coating on the paint are starting to give way, and even the sunscreens in the cab are literally falling apart (Bet you that's a nice little nod back to the V250 haha). Apart from that and some minor technical issues it's a pretty neat train. Quite comfortable and somehow still a lot of space. And maybe most important, it's not a HSL dedicated train like the V250 was. Meaning the ICNG can and will be used in domestic trains which do not run on the HSL. Nice trip report! Not sure why my colleague in Breda was being rude. Guess he wanted someone to boss around... EDIT: The door lock on the toilet wasn't broken. You have to hold the handle a bit longer until you hear the mechanism of the lock ''click''. Most people do not know this and is on of the main issues with the smaller toilet

[IndianGeek]

You should have complained about the previous rude staff member to the new staff 😂

[olafzijnbuis]

Next time get the ID of the rude employee and report him to the station master.

[RobinPalmerTV]

Imagine a first class seat with actual padding. The UK could never...

[audamus]

I am actually not really surprised that these trains are as noisy as you described them.The whole concept of this train is actually more of a regional train - basically everywhere else, like in Italy, those are used for regional service (top speed 160km/h). It seems like to me, Alstom bumped up the top speed of one of their regional models to fit the specifications to call it "High-Speed". That could be an explanation for the rattling sounds at higher speeds.

[MozzaBurger]

Even the pigeons are enjoying their time in Breda's station 👌

[mikkol]

Just wanted to add that this train is being called ‘wesp’ (wasp in english) due to the similarities. We dutch love our nicknames just like the old hondekop (dogs head) from the past

[wilbertdriessen]

Thank you for this top review about this new train. Only one subject I missed in your review. A few weeks ago I travelled from Rotterdam to Breda in this type of train. I was sitting at the window side. An irritating cold breeze of air came out the airco system beneath the window. It was not possible to switch it off at my seat.

[mennoverburg]

As someone who spends A LOT of time on trains all throughout the Netherlands my main criticism is the trains' lack of capacity compared to the Koploper or other HSL trains. It's great when it's quiet, but rush hour in these things is hell

[mrblond]

You forgot to mention the permanent nuclear winter atmosphere, specially implemented on Sloterijk Station to feel extra welcome. For the rest, a top class review again!

[andybianca]

very ironic your starter station was named Breda and the previous failed High speed train was by Ansaldo-Breda, same name but no correlation ofc

[YoloDennis]

People saying "brurhrrudurhrhrbb this isnt high speed" yall do not realize the Netherlands is not large at all, so even if its not "quick enough" you still get to your next city within very times

[gulaschkarauski]

How rude of the train staff, to kick you out

[Rens]

A helpful tip for long people in this train, do not sit on a higher seat, you’ll bump your head

[johnbowyer]

I don't know why the Dutch government does not implement a daily cleaning routine on all of its services.
The graffiti vandalism in the washrooms and other parts of the interior and exterior of the trains gives a black mark on the NS. This needs to be cracked down on and criminally prosecuted as well.😮

[jayveehaitch]

Great video. Sorry about the crew from the first train. There are plenty of guys making railway videos in the Netherlands. Most NS staff members can act normally. Some are even enthusiastic about it. Unfortunately, there are some bad apples here and there. Anyway, thank you for the video.

[TeamWolfmountain]

Ok report this to NS please! This is an absolute no no to have staff act like this and will result in the member being reprimended for it.

[LondonAndSouthEastTransport]

I managed to ride on one of these when I went to Eindhoven a few weeks ago, these are very nice and kind of remind me of Stadler FLIRTs, maybe because of the bogey layout

Great trains and great video!