The government is sticking to its intention to award the operation of the most important intercity trains and local trains to the Dutch Railways. That is what State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management, CDA) said in the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening during a debate about the railways.

More liberalization should improve services to rail passengers, is the idea of ​​the European Commission. Competitors of NS, including Arriva and Qbuzz, filed several lawsuits to be allowed to provide more train connections in the Netherlands, but concessions in the Netherlands only apply to unprofitable lines that require a subsidy.

The cabinet wants to continue to award most train traffic to the NS after 2025, but that is in violation of European rules, say competing transport companies united in the Federation of Mobility Companies in the Netherlands (FMN). European Commissioner Adina Valean resembles the hand of the FMN companies. By privately awarding the rail concession to the NS, the Netherlands runs a 'serious risk of violation of European law', she wrote this summer.

support

On Tuesday 1 November 2022, the cabinet received support for the plan to grant NS a rail concession. A majority in the House of Representatives supported the plan to grant NS the largest and important rail concession in the Netherlands in the coming years. The current concession will expire at the end of 2024. The cabinet wants to make a final decision on the new award next year. If the objections of Brussels have not yet been removed, the cabinet is considering extending the current award by one or two years or putting it out to tender privately for a short time to NS.