Population: 17,375 million inhabitants – Administrative language: Dutch.
Political capital: The Hague (Den Haag)
Political system: The Netherlands is a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy, with a head of government, the Prime Minister, and a head of state, the monarch. The country is divided into 12 provinces and 388 municipalities. It is further divided into 22 water districts managed by an executive council with authority over water management. The Netherlands also includes 6 overseas countries and territories in the Caribbean. These territories are not part of the EU.
A member of the European Union (1958), the Schengen area (1997) and the euro zone (1999)
Brief rail characteristics:
• UIC code : 84
• Main track gauge: 1,435mm
• Main electrification: 1500V DC, 25kV AC
• High Speed > V250 : yes
Rail transport
• History of rail in Netherlands
• Details of institutional organisation
• Dutch rail news highlights
Notified bodies
• Regulation : Autoriteit Consument & Markt
• Security : Inspectie Leefomgeving en Transport
Public transport
• National / local and regional authorities
The 10 top ranking cities:
• Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht, Groningen, Breda, Haarlem, Delft, Zwolle, Maastricht
Organisation of rail transport in Netherlands
Manager of the main railway network
ProRail, an independent public limited company
Main historical railway company
Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) since 1938
Public limited company – Holding company with subsidiaries
Liberalisation (depends on the legal scope given to it)
International passenger traffic: Eurostar TGV considered as an independent RU, ICE (DB) and Nightjet in cooperation, European Sleeper (private), cross-border links with local operators.
National mainline passenger traffic: allocated as a concession to NS, some rare private links (Arriva NL).
National regional and local passenger traffic: NS + a few operators in certain provinces
Freight traffic: numerous independent operators.
Mainline and international train services
Non-subsidised long-distance trains: Eurostar TGV to Paris and London, European Sleeper
ICE traffic to Germany operated under contract (Service Level Agrement – SLA) with Deutsche Bahn
Intercity traffic to Brussels under concession on the Dutch side (NS), under public service contract on the Belgian side (SNCB).
Nightjet traffic managed under contract (Service Level Agrement – SLA) with ÖBB.
Alternative mainline operators
European Sleeper on night train service Brussels-Amsterdam-Berlin -Prague since Juni 2023.
Local / regional train services
In principle, the main domestic network is not subsidised and benefits from a 10-year concession. Subsidised regional and local trains:
Some provinces operate their regional and local trains under contract and tender, in a subsidised framework, with total choice of operator.
Other local and regional operators
Some operators have contracts with the provinces, mainly in the east of the country.
Freight train services
DB Cargo dominant, following the merger with NS Cargo in January 2000 (then under the name Railion).
Numerous private rail freight operators.
Alternative rail freight operators
Some private rail freight operators.
Bus / lightrail / metro
The regions are responsible for programming, planning and supervising their public transport, as are the major cities.
Glossary of rail transport in Netherlands
Infrastructure
◼ Main network manager:
• ProRail
• 3,034km of lines
◼ Others secondary network managers:
• —
◼ Passenger stations :
• 398 (ProRail)
• La filiale Gare & Connexion
◼ Companies registered:
• —
◼ Main issues:
• 2nd phase Betuwe line
• Amsterdam-Central
• Amsterdam-Zuid (South)
• Signalling & ETCS
Rolling stock:
◼ Authorized vehicles:
• Electric vehicles
• Autonomous vehicles
• Emu
• Dmu
• Railway cars
• Freight wagons
• Others
◼ Suppliers:
• History of the industry
• Industry today
Passenger services:
◼ Incumbent:
• NS
• National traffic yesterday
• Regionalisation
• High Speed
• European sleeper
• Beneluxtrein
• Crossborder traffic
◼ international trafic :
• Traffic organisation
◼ Stations:
• 398 (ProRail)
• History & Heritage
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main lines / local lines
• Modal shares & Economy
Freight services
◼ Industry sectors:
• Steel
• Chemical
• Intermodal
• Wood / Paper
• Others
◼ Operators:
• DB Cargo
• Others
◼ French operations abroad:
• …
◼ Infrastructure :
• little freight stations
• Marshalling yards
• Main north-south routes
• Ports
◼ Flow analysis:
• Main freight lines
• Modal share & Economy