Every day, 600,000 Dutch people travel by train and they will now be able to do so knowing that the trains are powered entirely by wind energy. The national rail operator, known as NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) has just announced that 100 percent of its passenger trains are now powered by the renewable source.

The change to wind-only power is a world first, and comes about as the result of an agreement between NS and Dutch electricity company Eneco. At first it was thought that the trains would be able to run entirely on wind power by January 2018. However things have moved ahead faster than initially expected and the scheme reached fruition one year ahead of schedule. An increase in the number of wind farms across the country and off the coast of the Netherlands had helped NS achieve its aim early.

"NS uses the same amount of energy as the city of Amsterdam," NS spokesman Ton Boon said. "And the electricity is supplied from newly-built wind farms. With this we lead by example: this contract will boost the production of green energy. We hope that other companies will follow this in their coming contracts." Although NS, along with other train operators, does still have a few diesel-powered trains, these will be phased out by the end of 2017 according to Boon.

NS runs about 5,500 train trips each day. One windmill running for an hour can power a train for up to 200 kilometres, the companies said. With increases in efficiency, they hope to reduce the energy used per passenger by another 35% by 2020, compared with 2005.

Holland has a long tradition of using wind power. The country is famous for its picturesque old windmills that are still widely seen on tourist souvenirs and postcards. Long ago the windmills were used to pump water and also to grind grain. Now the windmill has made a big comeback and is generating huge amounts of clean energy in the form of electricity.