(, , NS ) is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938.
The rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight operator NS Cargo merged with DB Cargo in 2000. NS runs 4,800 scheduled domestic trains a day, serving 1.1 million passengers. The NS also provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations and carries out concessions on some foreign rail markets through its subsidiary Abellio.
History
Early years
During World War I (WW I), the Netherlands were neutral. They had a strategic position between the German Empire, German-occupied Belgium, and the UK. They did some trade with the German Empire and the UK, but much less than before WW I. The Royal Navy blocked the English Channel and the North Sea (Northern Patrol). WW I caused an economic downturn in the Netherlands. The two largest Dutch railway companies, Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) and Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS), became unprofitable. The companies avoided bankruptcy by integrating their operations, which was complete by 1917. The cooperation was for both economic and ideological reasons, and the state provided support by buying shares in both companies. In 1938, the state bought the remaining shares and merged the companies to create NS; NS was not nationalised.
In May 1940, eight months after the beginning of World War II, Nazi Germany led the Westfeldzug. The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg capitulated in May 1940 and France on 22 June 1940. Germany occupied them and created the Reichskommissariat of Belgium and Northern France. NS was forced by the German occupiers to construct railways to Westerbork transit camp and transport almost a hundred thousand Jews to extermination camps where they were murdered. The company's only wartime strike was during the Dutch famine of 1944–45; NS opted not to strike in 1943.
NS played a pivotal role in the post-war reconstruction of the Netherlands; it provided the required logistical services in a time when there was little alternative to rail transport. The company declined in the 1960s – like many other railways – and operated at a loss. There was increased competition from other modes of transport. In addition, national coal distribution from Limburg became less profitable; the discovery of a gas field near Slochteren led to coal losing market share to natural gas in power plants and homes. NS' response, the Spoorslag '70 plan which increased service and introduced intercity service, failed to restore profitability. The company was deemed nationally important and received state subsidies.
Reforms and reversal
NS was reorganized following the neoliberal reforms of the 1980s and the 1991 EU Directive 91/440; the latter required railway infrastructure and transport activities to be managed independently. Although the state called the process "corporatization" (verzelfstandiging), it really only meant the withdrawal of subsidies. The changes were carried out by Rob den Besten, who became chief executive officer of NS after the retirement of Leo Ploeger.
NS' infrastructure division was split off into NS Railinfratrust. Plans to split the remainder of NS met with limited success due to trade union opposition; the new companies created were NS Reizigers and locomotive maintenance company NedTrain. Passenger transport was to be conducted on a commercial basis, but the state continued to subsidize non-viable routes. Internally, route managers assumed de facto control, The freight business, NS Cargo, merged with Deutsche Bahn; the resulting company operated as Railion in 2000 and then as DB Cargo.DB and NS sign freight merger Railway Gazette International 1 August 1999 Performance deteriorated after the reforms, and the company suffered multiple unorganized strikes. The entire board of directors resigned in late-2001.
Another change in strategy followed. Karel Noordzij became CEO in 2002 and reversed many of the reforms to restore confidence in the company. The state no longer considered competitive passenger service to be viable, and began granting concessions with the goal of one concession per line. NS received a concession to run main line routes until 2025.
Recent years
The timetable change on 10 December 2006 saw the most routes to approximate the symmetry minute in clock-face schedules to the one used in most other European countries. The previous symmetry minute 46 led to problems with cross-border trains. the company's CEO is former minister Wouter Koolmees, after Marjan Rintel left to become CEO of KLM.
NS was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused massive drops in passenger numbers. The company received significant financial support from the national government in order to keep the company solvent. In 2022, the company made significant cuts in its timetable, running fewer and shorter trains, as a consequence of personnel shortages.
4 October 2025 was the last day NS used locomotives in domestic passenger services. The last ones, which were running between The Hague and Eindhoven, were retired.
Controversies NS has been involved in various controversies. Technical problems with the high-speed V250 trains, which started their services on 29 July 2013, and ended on 17 January 2014, led to the resignation of CEO Bert Meerstadt in June 2016 and a parliamentary investigation in 2016. The High Speed Alliance (HSA), an NS (80%) / KLM (20%) joint venture almost went bankrupt due to the late introduction of the trains in combination with a too high price for the concession which the company paid to the Dutch government. HSA was liquidated in 2017. In 2013, it was revealed that NS had been using a subsidiary in Ireland, NS Financial Services Company (NSFSC), to reduce its tax liability in the Netherlands. The procedure was determined to be lawful, but it was unfavorable for the Dutch taxpayers for a state-owned company to avoid national taxes. From 1998 the NS used the favourable tax climate in Ireland, which resulted in a profit for NS of more than €270 million but a loss to the Dutch state of €21 million in 2012 alone. The corporate tax rate in Ireland was 12.5%, in the Netherlands 25% at that time. NS used its Irish subsidiary to buy new trains, among others the high-speed V250 trains from the Italian firm AnsaldoBreda. The Dutch Minister of Finance, Jeroen Dijsselbloem, wrote to the parliament that NS would stop this tax evasion. Most rolling stock was transferred to the Netherlands-based NS Lease in December 2017.NS repatriates train leasing Railway Gazette International 26 February 2018 NSFSC was wound up in April 2019.NS ends Irish-registered leasing activities Railway Gazette International 29 April 2019 In 2015 it became clear that a subsidiary of NS, Abellio, had shown unfair behaviour about a tendering for public transport in the province of Limburg. The company had obtained confidential information from a competitor, Veolia, through a former employee of Veolia who had been hired by Abellio subsidiary Qbuzz. On 5 June 2015, it became clear that CEO Timo Huges of the NS had given incomplete and incorrect information about the tendering procedure. According to Minister Dijsselbloem, Huges had acted "sloppy, inaccurate and in violation of the law." Consequently, Huges resigned from his position.
Coverage
The NS covers most of the country, with almost all cities connected, mostly with a service frequency of two trains an hour or more and at least four trains per hour between all of the largest five cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Eindhoven) as well as some smaller cities (Nijmegen, Amersfoort, Arnhem, 's-Hertogenbosch, Dordrecht and Leiden). From December 2008 train frequencies were increased on the following services: Arnhem–Nijmegen (8 trains per hour) and The Hague–Rotterdam (12 trains per hour), Amsterdam Centraal–Hoofddorp (16 trains per hour). A night train service was added between Utrecht, Gouda and Rotterdam.www.treinreiziger.nl Trains usually run between 5:00 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. although there is also a nightline which connects major cities in the Randstad throughout the night, as well as in weekends also some major cities in North Brabant.
In addition to its domestic services, NS is also a partner (along with Stena Line and British railway company Greater Anglia) in the Dutchflyer service. NS has also entered into a partnership with KLM to operate services on the new HSL-Zuid under the name Intercity Direct towards Breda and Brussels. Intercity Direct is part of NS International; other services such as Eurostar to France and Intercity-Express to Germany and Switzerland are also part of NS International.
Rail network
The hoofdrailnet is the official core internal passenger rail network of the Netherlands. Currently, NS has a concession until 1 January 2034 to provide all passenger services on this network, except that on some stretches there is an overlap with lines for which other operators have a concession. Some of the most notable of these stretches are those from Elst railway station to Arnhem Centraal railway station, where NS shares tracks with Arriva, and further on to Arnhem Velperpoort. Here the tracks are shared by three operators, as Breng, ultimately part of Transdev, operates there in addition to the two previously mentioned operators. Officially the overlaps do not constitute competition on the same lines.
The concession was free of charge until 2009, and costs an increasing amount since then, up to €30 million for the year 2014. The concession distinguishes the main stations and other stations. Except on New Year's Eve, the main stations have to be served at least twice an hour per direction from 6 a.m. to midnight and the other stations at least once an hour. Exceptions are possible until the start of the next concession.
The current concession period is 2025–2035. For the 2015–2025 concession, requirements included the use of a train with a toilet for every service where on average more than one-third of the passengers travel longer than 30 minutes, the fitment of a toilet to all newly ordered trains, and a toilet on every train by 2025. The last trains on the hoofdrailnet without a toilet were the NS SGMm (the so-called classical "Sprinter", retired 2018–21) and the Sprinter Lighttrain (SLT, since retrofitted with onboard toilets).
Types of train service
NS runs two primary domestic service types, supplemented by high-speed and international services. [1, 2, 3, 4] A (SPR) calls at all stations, and is mainly used for local traffic. On some smaller lines, though, it is the only kind of service. The name is derived from the 'Sprinter' (2900 class) rolling stock; however, the service was sometimes operated using older style rolling stock (such as 'Plan V/T': 400, 500, 800, and 900 class). Since December 2019, all Sprinter services are run exclusively with Sprinter trains.