Suspected sabotage triggers a major Dutch rail outage during the morning rush hour

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A major outage hit parts of the Dutch railway system early Tuesday and the company that maintains the nation's rail infrastructure said it was treating the cause as possible sabotage.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers use the train network each day. The stoppages on Tuesday affected thousands of passengers mainly in the central and eastern areas of the Netherlands, but the problem also affected some services in the busiest western regions of the country.

Joke van der Cruysen, a spokesperson for infrastructure company Prorail, told The Associated Press that there were disruptions at 24 locations.

“Material has been found at several locations. It appears that this material was deliberately placed on the tracks. We suspect sabotage,” she said in a telephone interview. “The police are currently involved and are actively investigating the cause and the reasons behind this.”

There was no immediate indication of who was suspected of being behind the apparent sabotage.

Van der Cruysen said Prorail was working to clear all rails and handling material taken off rails carefully so as not to compromise potential evidence.

“We wear gloves so that the police can eventually check for fingerprints and the like,” she said. “And, of course, we try to get train traffic up and running again as soon as possible.”

Police spokeswoman Marloes Wesselink confirmed that an investigation was underway, but declined to give further details. She said that she wasn't aware of any claim of responsibility.

National railway company NS said that train services around the central cities of Zwolle, Deventer and Amersfoort were hit hard around the morning rush hour.

“It is not yet clear how long it will take for train services to return to normal,” NS said in an message to travelers.

The disruption happened on the day that the Dutch government is presenting its annual budget to parliament, an event that draws thousands of people to The Hague to watch the royal family ride through the city in horse-drawn carriages.