Suspected sabotage triggers a major Dutch rail outage during the morning rush hour

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A major outage hit parts of the Dutch railway system early Tuesday and the company that maintains the nation's rail infrastructure said it was treating the cause as possible sabotage.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers use the train network each day. The stoppages on Tuesday stranded thousands on railway platforms.

“Materials deliberately placed on the tracks have been found at several locations. This is causing track-circuit failures. It appears to be a case of sabotage,” Prorail said in a statement. It didn't elaborate on what material had been found on the rail lines.

There was no immediate indication of who was suspected of being behind the apparent sabotage.

National railway company NS said that train services around the central cities of Zwolle, Deventer and Amersfoort were hit hard around the morning rush hour.

“It is not yet clear how long it will take for train services to return to normal,” NS said in an message to travelers.

The disruption happened on the day that the Dutch government is presenting its annual budget to parliament, an event that draws thousands of people to The Hague to watch the royal family ride through the city in horse-drawn carriages.