Baby born in train aisle after woman’s waters break on way to hospital

A heavily pregnant woman gave birth in the aisle of a moving train in Groningen while travelling to hospital for a check-up on Monday. “Someone shouted, ‘There’s a baby on the ground!” One witness said to De Telegraaf.

The heavily pregnant woman gave birth in the train’s aisle in Groningen. She had boarded the train at Europapark in the city while on her way to a hospital for a pregnancy check-up when her waters suddenly broke. “There were two blood-curdling screams and a kind of ‘clunk,’ like a bag containing two bottles hitting the ground. Someone shouted, ‘There’s a baby on the ground!’ And there was a little baby lying on the ground,” Maaike, 43, said.

Eyewitnesses noted that the entire birth happened remarkably fast, within roughly two minutes into the journey. There was initial panic because the baby did not cry right away, and the mother went completely silent.

Commuters rushed over to provide immediate assistance. Passengers quickly called emergency services, demanded an ambulance, and shouted down the carriages to check if there was a doctor on board. Shortly after, bystanders were able to reassure the cabin by repeating, "The baby is okay, the baby is okay."

The Arriva train was heading to Groningen station, where nurses boarded to help the woman give birth. Arriva confirmed to NU.nl that a birth had taken place on board, but declined to provide further details for privacy reasons.

Both the mother and her newborn baby are reported to be doing well under the circumstances.

While births on local commuter lines are extremely rare, they do happen. Major train lines occasionally grant infants born mid-transit honorary perks; for example, a baby born on a Thalys train in 2009 received free rail travel for life, while an infant born on an Irish train in 2019 was given 25 years of free transit.