Roermond, Limburg, and the Dutch Rail System

I both love and hate the Dutch Rail system. Love the effiency, hate the bureaucracy. Checking in and out can give you a coronary, so let's do that first. Barcode scanners. Not all locations have these, but oftentimes a conductor will come through and check your tickets, so keep your ticket handy for when he comes around. The fee for not having the ticket is several hundred euros, so don't try and sneak your way onto a train.

You must check-in and out when you first get on and off the train and bus. This can be confusing because everything is in Dutch, but also because there are 4 different types of systems.


Syntus, NS, and Arriva are the main transportation providers and it's important to know which one you are getting on because they are not universal tickets. Most people have an OV chipcard which they top up with 10, 20, 50, etc euros. If you get on a NS train in Utrecht, you my have to transfer to an Arriva train when you check out. For me, I get the paper tickets from the ticket machines when I'm going by train somewhere. It's better than having your OV card frozen because you checked in wrong.

bar code ticket scanner
So, why am I talking about trains? Because I go down to Roermond, in the Limburg region of the Netherlands a lot for a project I'm doing, and to get there I take the train into Utrecht and then transfer to go south.

Roermond is a cute city near Maastricht, Liege (Belgium), and Dusseldorf (Germany). I really like going down because the 3hr train ride is relaxing (if it isn't rush hour). Something to remember about the Dutch is that most people take bikes and public transit, so rush hour can feel like you are in Asia with all the people on the bus or train. It's worth it to stop in if you are driving through the area to see the cute city center and awesome church.



Munsterkerk

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