It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen. Dutch efficiency has once again surprised us with a masterpiece of engineering ingenuity. Our beloved high-speed train, once promised to race across the landscape at a dizzying 300 kilometers per hour, has now been relegated to a snail on wheels. Thanks to a series of construction defects in the construction of an overpass in South Holland, our "high-speed train" will crawl along the tracks at a top speed of just 80 kilometers per hour for the foreseeable future.
Yes, you read correctly. Eighty. Kilometers. Per. Hour. That's about the speed of a grandma on an electric bike with the wind at her back. But don't worry, there is hope. ProRail, the organization that found the construction defects, expects the speed can be increased to a staggering 160 kilometers per hour later this year. That's still half the promised speed, but hey, who are we to complain?
It appears that cracks have appeared in the welding of the viaduct. Apparently, a miscalculation was made during construction and the viaduct's substructure started to move. The track has even moved 8 centimeters horizontally since the construction of the hsl in 2009. But not to worry, the piles that are in the ground are being investigated. After all, we need to make sure they can withstand the force of a train traveling at high speed over the viaduct.
And as if that were not enough, there are several overpasses that were constructed in the same way. These are now being examined as well. On these nine overpasses, the speed limit is now 160 kilometers per hour.
(Article continues below this call) In the Netherlands, the elite can do absolutely NOTHING anymore. They really destroy EVERYTHING. But they make loads of money. The Daily Standard is CLOSED with this. We want to tackle the elites and take back the Netherlands. But we need your help. Support us! Donate via BackMe and fight side by side with us against the incompetent elites!
So there we have it, folks. The state of the Netherlands anno 2023. In the rest of the world they can shoot people into space, but in the Netherlands they can run a train at 300 kilometers per hour over a viaduct? That is apparently too much to ask. But rest assured, we'll always have our bicycles. And grandma's electric bike seems like an attractive alternative now, doesn't it?