Dutch railway operator NS is to test a faster service between the four big cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht and the outlying regional centres of Groningen and Zwolle.

By using faster trains which can travel at 160 kph on some stretches of track and cutting out stops such as Almere and Assen, the NS hopes to be able to cut total travelling time by around 15 minutes. The fastest journey between Amsterdam and Groningen, for example, currently takes two hours and six minutes.

A one-off test will take place at the beginning of next year and if successful, the NS plans to run two fast rush-hour services a day, alongside the regular intercity trains by 2021.

‘Ideally, the NS would like to cut journey times to other cities, to make the train even more attractive to travellers,’ NS president Roger van Boxtel said.