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Suspected sabotage causes major Netherlands rail disruption

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8ly49w9g1edo
80•choult•58m ago

Comments

scrollaway•27m ago
Little by little, people are realising that Europe is at war. Politicians are trying so hard not to say it because of the implications, but there’s only so long you can keep your head buried in the sand.

We’re under constant attacks from Russia… drones, sabotage, cyberattacks, propaganda campaigns derailing our elections…

I’m sick of it.

embedding-shape•22m ago
Yeah, not sure why not at least being upfront about the possibility is so hard. In Spain we've had train derailments, flocks of people being directed on social media to force themselves across borders, subterfuge deluxe everywhere and what not, yet the government is mostly silent and claim it's all unrelated, but it's hard to not also see the parallels across the continent and reach your own conclusions. But then also, don't wanna fall into some conspiracy theory trap either...
crote•13m ago
Russia isn't the only group interested in doing terrorism in The Netherlands. Recently the Farmers Defense Force and Extinction Rebellion have caused far greater disruption.

Could it be Russia? Obviously. But in my opinion the odds are less than a coin flip.

embedding-shape•11m ago
> Recently the Farmers Defense Force and Extinction Rebellion

Why derail trains though, especially in regards to the latter? Given it's one of the most environmental ways for transportation. Besides, groups like that tend to want to take responsibility, the whole point is to get attention to their groups.

maxboone•8m ago
You're assuming rational goals instead of thinking in radical acts of terrorism.

Throwing paint at a painting does not help the environment, but it does create radical flank effects.

Blocking the highways does not help agriculture, but it does bring their problems in other people's home / discourse.

maxboone•20m ago
We don't know whether this was Russia, it's just as likely it was the "farmers defence force" or climate activists.

Edit: some context as I'm looking like a Russian shill now, which I understand. Today is the day that the budget gets announced, and the farmer terrorist organization (farmer defence force) have announced actions - and have disrupted highways by setting bales of hay on fire, and all the disruptions happened where farmer concentrations are high.

Regardless, the situation is dire, and probably either the tankies or terror farmers are being helped by Russian destabilizing forces, it's too early to call this disruption an action from the FSB.

mschuster91•18m ago
if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...

Russia started with the hybrid war psyops shit, they don't get to complain about false accusations.

maxboone•16m ago
I'm not defending Russia, it's just that the farmers terrorist organisation has announced major disruptions today and has also set hay bales on fire to shut down highways.

For context: it's "Prinsjesdag" in the Netherlands which is when the budget is announced, and there are major changes to agriculture subsidies.

on_the_train•16m ago
We've had a bunch of these acts of terrorism in Germany in the recent years. Mostly power, but also train and industrial targets. They all came from the same source, which is very much not Russian.
j-pb•18m ago
Ah yes, climate activists are widely known for hating public transport especially trains.
jeltz•20m ago
What implications? Why wouldn't they want an, in this case real, external enemy they could use to distract the people from their own failures?
stingraycharles•18m ago
Perhaps the external enemy being able to do these things is, in fact, their own failure in a way.
jeltz•16m ago
Not really, I do not buy that. Ukrainian intelligence can sabotage train tracks deep within Belarus and Russia. And given how convient it would be to blame Russia here I wonder why they do not.
crote•17m ago
It is indeed possible Russia is behind it, but considering a domestic farmers' terror group has told its followers to cause disruption today (as it is a politically-significant day), and those are definitely disrupting highways, chances are good they are also responsible for the railway disruptions.

And if this is supposed to be war, then by European standards it is incredibly mild.

dividedbyzero•3m ago
And Russia is winning, they already have neutralized if not subjugated the US, but most of Europe is also heading towards that outcome, and fast. Russia is not this near omnipotent 5D chess mastermind behind all of the scenes in all of politics all across the West, but they are terrifyingly good at exploiting existing trends and influencing trajectories just so and they have been at it with great continuity over many decades. It's starting to really pay off. At this point, it's hard to imagine how the next German federal government could be anything else than either a completely dead-on-arrival coalition of polar opposites that only barely hangs on to keep the AfD out of government but will be unable to do anything at all, or an extremely Russia-friendly government the AfD is part of if not leads that is pretty much certain to continue within the EU what Trump started within NATO. Both outcomes serve Russia well, and the establishment has pretty much handed them that opportunity without meaningful resistance.
apt-get•24m ago
Just days after a similar (criminal) incident causing a train to derail in France: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2026/09/12/french-p...

"close to Renault's factory in the town of Cléon", which is now preparing to start manufacturing drones for the French military, in collaboration with Ukrainian military-industrial groups.

walrus01•4m ago
Most consumers know Renault as an ordinary car manufacturer but also worth mentioning it's a major manufacturer of armored vehicles for the French armed forces.
sorenjan•17m ago
A Russian warship fired flares at a Danish military helicopter in international waters in the Baltic sea too.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwn8mjl31p5yo

dakolli•15m ago
What does this have to do with this.. .. The reflexive urge to blame everything on Russia or China on this site (and others) is really funny, ya'll are trained sheep.
bilekas•13m ago
They have a habit of being involved. It's not exactly plucked out of thin air!
cyclopeanutopia•10m ago
Russia is involved in many acts of sabotage in Europe over past 2 or 3 years, so this is a very natural first guess for us, European citizens. They also started increasing their activity recently.
ImHereToVote•5m ago
Like what? Any confirmed acts?
shakna•5m ago
[delayed]
Kim_Bruning•17m ago
So today's the yearly presentation of the new budget, with protests expected in several places. Whether this sabotage campaign is (part of a) misguided protest action or something else is yet to be determined.

https://nos.nl/liveblog/2631038-nog-steeds-nieuwe-sabotageac... (Use google translate to read)

qwertox•12m ago
https://nos-nl.translate.goog/liveblog/2631038-hooibalen-in-...
barrenko•14m ago
As a european, for the love of god, can we address any single of our concerns by either the national or the supranational government?

It seems as if one ambiguates the other.

HPsquared•8m ago
It's useful because if an issue is difficult, both levels can disavow responsibility.
HelloUsername•12m ago
Might be related to today's yearly 'Prinsjesdag' in the Netherlands:

The day on which the reigning monarch of the Netherlands addresses a joint session of the States-General of the Netherlands (consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives) to give the Speech from the Throne (Dutch: Troonrede), similar to the annual State of the Union in the United States or the British State Opening of Parliament. This speech sets out the main features of government policy for the coming parliamentary session.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prinsjesdag

AmericanOP•9m ago
Putin’s exit narrative requires escalation. Defeat vs Ukraine is a pathetic wound- “we would have won if it weren’t for.. europe” is preferable to narcissistic permanent victimhood.

Solovyov propaganda is pure nuclear revenge fantasy: https://youtu.be/dA4RP3uID6Q?is=ApmFQtgZvY7mWajP

walrus01•9m ago
And on the same day that a (very likely Russian) UAV had to be shot down in Lithuanian air space.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjx2zgk7edlzo

assimpleaspossi•6m ago
I don't understand. What does this have to do with HN, the typical topics, and the typical users who come here?
rebolek•5m ago
By the upvotes - a lot.
NicoJuicy•6m ago
And Putin has trump in his pocket. Some oligarch just had to pay a couple of big bucks for his sons wedding...

https://www.propublica.org/article/donald-trump-jr-wedding-b...

maxboone•14m ago
I wouldn't say they are widely known for hating the electric grid but hey here we are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_arson_attack_on_the_Berli...
crote•4m ago
Climate activists are definitely known for disliking fossil fuel plants - and there's one directly next to that.

I could see an activist naïvely thinking that this would sever that one power plant from the grid, making a clear anti-fossil statement. Still a bit of an odd choice (it's gas-powered, Germany has far dirtier lignite-powered ones), but not unthinkable.

n4r9•17m ago
Don't you think those groups would have claimed responsibility by now?
hhh•11m ago
no? if you are diligent you can say nothing and people will hopefully attribute it to your enemies and you get off with your own ploy of looking peaceful and harmless
wickedsight•16m ago
Yeah, my bet is on the farmers. The locations where this happened are all pretty rural and farmers have announced havy actions today.

We in NL need to be more concerned about domestic terrorism than the Russians at the moment. Though I'm sure Russian money and bots are involved in some way.

maxboone•15m ago
Definitely, and destabilizing by proxy is still an attack
ricardobeat•9m ago
You think farmers are willing to risk the murder of hundreds of their fellow countrymen as a form of protest? That’s plain terrorism.
toasty228•16m ago
In the case of France it is pretty obvious, they would never attack random people in such a way. They either target public infrastructure or very specific politician/execs properties, not random people, and definitely not in a way that could result in deaths.
boesboes•16m ago
uhu, sure thing boris!
smodo
•
8m ago
There are some indications that make Russian saboteurs a very likely culprit. It would be unwise to look at every occurrence of sabotage as a singular incident in the context of the ongoing campaign against European political stability.

https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/news/2025/01/research-e...

https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/sabotage-deutschland-bka...

rebolek•6m ago
I'm trained by Russian occupation of my country.
hagbard_c•7m ago
Yes, a dangerous provocation which - had the helicopter been hit - could have led to serious consequences.

Also, very much unlikely to be related to the issue of activists sabotaging the Dutch railways. There's hardly a weekend which goes by without some activist group doing something stupid in the Netherlands, often 'climate' activists but sometimes others - 'palestine' being another popular 'cause'. In a Dutch newspaper there was a suggestion that this was related to upcoming actions by farmers but I doubt it, they tend to be more rational in their activism by taking to the motorways in their tractors to slow down (or stop) traffic.

crote•3m ago
Of those, the "tractors on highways" is the only one which has resulted in someone dying. So much for rational...