The Netherlands is getting ready to open its rail network to competition, at least on international routes, to operators who would no longer have to work with and pay fees to NS, the Dutch state-owned rail operator.
The move, which follows the 2010 EU commitment to opening rail routes to competition, is opposed by NS, which fears it would lose out to larger operators and by its unions, which fear a loss of jobs in the transition, which would take effect by 2025.
Large cities in the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam, Rotterdam already see service by a wide variety of non-Dutch trains providing service to Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, London and other cities, but these services, including the Thalys trains to Paris and Brussels and the Eurostar, all work with and pay NS.
The same is true for the Austrian rail-operated night sleeper between Amsterdam and Vienna, which would presumably also be open to independent operation.
Competing rail operations have become common over the past few years across much of Europe, with France’s SNCF and Spain’s RENFE operating competing operations in both countries, and private operators such as Italo in Italy and Flix in Germany also taking prominent roles.
