Getting scammed. This is a weekly occurrence for many Wageningen students. They travel to Wageningen via Ede-Wageningen train station. Ede-‘Wageningen’ is located one-and-a-half kilometres from the centre of Ede to the East. That takes you nowhere near Wageningen while the city’s name is cheerfully added to the station name. Inappropriate appropriation. Is the name Ede-Wageningen still okay in 2024? Naming Ede-East Ede-Wageningen is the single biggest lie in my life since Santa Claus.
If you travel to Wageningen from Amersfoort, you have the pleasure of no less than three stops in Barneveld: North, centre and south. Wageningen remains lamentably trainless. However, there are developments in Ede-East. A new, nicer station with more tracks and better amenities is being constructed. Despite all this, our railways still function better than those of our neighbours to the East, where they really mess things up.
Last month, I took a train in Germany. Even if you are fortunate enough to remain unaffected by strikes and cancelled trains, they appear to leave no stone unturned in their efforts to sabotage you through erroneous information: Trains are set to arrive within a minute but on an undisclosed platform. Trains with the wrong destination displayed. A train you must board, where large signs both inside and on the outside of the train ordering you to ‘Bitte aussteigen’. The way railway travel is organised in Germany is the best ever advertisement for air travel.
The way railway travel is organised in Germany is the best-ever advertisement for air travel
During my year of serving on the student union Student Alliance Wageningen board, I reached out to the provincial government to ask whether a railway connection between Amersfoort and Ede-East might be achievable (let Germany sort out its problems). No, out of the question. Too expensive. Will attractive and competitively priced public transport remain a fairytale, like Santa Claus?
Steven (25) is doing a Master’s degree in Economics and Policy. He enjoys hitting the squash court and is always up for a game of squash and a good conversation. You can email him here.
