Railroad chaos looms: Oranje flies short-haul route and cancels train journey
During the journey back from Wolfsburg to Dortmund, the Dutch football national team's train derails, the one they intended to use for the EM semifinal return journey. For the return trip, Oranje boards an earlier transportation means: The train journey is cancelled, instead they will fly.
Following the travel chaos preceding the EM semifinal against England, the Dutch football national team made last-minute arrangements for their return journey. The team will fly back to their EM quarters in Wolfsburg immediately after the Wednesday evening game (21:00/ARD, MagentaTV and live at ntv.de), announced a spokesperson for the Dutch football association KNVB just hours before kick-off.
Initially, it was planned to travel back to Wolfsburg from Dortmund on Thursday morning by train, with a journey time of only 2 hours and 15 minutes according to the railway website. Due to a track closure, the train journey during the onward journey in Dortmund had already failed. The team had to take a plane then. The obligatory press conference with coach Ronald Koeman and Manchester City defender Nathan Ake for the semifinal in Dortmund was cancelled.
Meanwhile, Dutch football fans had started their fan march and the North Rhine-Westphalia grand start had turned orange. "Of course, it's always good to know that we have great support from our country. The Netherlands is right next door," Koeman had commented on the fan support: "Hopefully, we can make them happy with a win so we can play in the final on Sunday." In the final, the Netherlands would face Spain, Shooting Star Lamine Yamal and Co. had advanced to the semifinals with a 2:1 win over France on Tuesday.
Dutch fans had already celebrated a massive party during the EM matches and jumped from left to right in masses. And from Amsterdam to the BVB stadium, it's only about 200 kilometers by car. Approximately 75,000 Dutch fans were expected in the city, along with around 30,000 English fans who wanted to support their team.
Despite the cancelled train journey due to the European Football Championship 2024 semifinal's travel chaos, the Dutch football national team will participate in an international match against England on Wednesday evening. Post the game, German Railways will no longer be their mode of transport to Wolfsburg, as they will fly back to continue their tournament journey.
In light of the Derailed train incident affecting their travel plans for the European Football Championship 2024 semifinal return journey, the Dutch team will switch to German Railways for their original journey plan from Dortmund to Wolfsburg, if the situation permits a smoother trip.
