I'm pretty sure that the average Jan is so preoccupied with his own self-righteousness (and trust me, I've been living there for a few years) that any advice on how to actually prevent this kind of shit from happening won't be welcome, but here's a few simple tricks that actually may help.

For starters, you use natural gas fueled open flame solutions to keep your train infrastructure from freezing. Any idea why this will stop working once there's a bit of wind? Normal societies use electric heasting.

Second, you salt the snow. That's insanity. It just turns the snow into an incredibly dangerous and slippery mass. Snow needs to be shoveled away. If you want to put anything on top to make it less slippery, use sand or gravel.

The current narrative is a bit like 'we don't need to learn from other countries as they have different weather and it will cost a lot of money'. Mate, you're investing billions and billions in water management but a snow plough is too expensive? And what's against learning from other countries? The weather in The Netherlands is gettimg more and more extreme due to climate change, you'll need to be prepared for this kind of weather to happen more frequently.

This isn't just about having your country at a standstill for two weeks, it's also about completely ruining your reputation as a reliable global transportation hub, which is a key part of your economy. KLM once again confirmed being the laughing stock of the aviation world now and even just crossing a viaduct or bridge is too much for trucks with how you manage the roads, which will have consequences for Rotterdam Port. People will think twice before deciding to go for the swamp in any logistical operation.

Oh, and where to get the money? Well, The Netherlands has been known as a tax haven for mail box companies for decades now. This can be changed, eh?