Supervisor Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) sees no objections to night trains from carrier Arriva from Groningen and Maastricht to the Randstad. This means that the night trains on the main rail network are one step closer.
Arriva wants to run trains from Groningen and Maastricht to Schiphol once a week from 16 December 2022, in the night from Friday to Saturday. The carrier also wants to make a direct connection between Zutphen and Amersfoort on working days.
ACM saw no major economic disruptions on the main rail network, which is now almost exclusively used by NS. With the exception of a few short stop train connections, the NS has the exclusive right to do so.
profitability
According to the ACM, the profitability of NS is "only affected to a very limited extent" by Arriva's plan. Moreover, the costs for the Ministry of Infrastructure will not increase, writes outgoing State Secretary Steven van Weyenberg in a letter to the House of Representatives. Therefore, Arriva has “the economic right to exploit the reported services”. The State Secretary is positive about Arriva's intention.
According to Van Weyenberg, it is still too early to say whether Arriva may operate both the night train and the connection between Zutphen and Amersfoort. Rail manager ProRail will distribute the available capacity on the track and that will only happen in the spring of 2022.
Photo above: Henk Vrieselaar / Shutterstock.com