Things go wrong too often, especially on the high-speed line. Disruptions occur so often there that the NS drops below the bottom value here. That value has been agreed in the so-called concession, the contract with the ministry. There are also more frequent cancellations on other routes. The House wants the NS to better investigate what is causing the quality of the railway to deteriorate, because there is no “unambiguous picture” about this.
NSC wants an additional program to be included in the concession, which at least states that NS must investigate the causes and come up with a step-by-step plan. This gives State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) additional options to hold the carrier to the agreements. “The motion is mainly an encouragement to the State Secretary to take control of the NS,” petitioner Olger Van Dijk told ANP.
Reliability
“We share the House’s insight that things must be improved and that a program under the concession can help with this,” says NS board chairman Wouter Koolmees. In order to improve performance in the short term, the railway company has already started working more closely with rail manager ProRail, according to the CEO.
Rover had previously advocated stricter supervision and is “pleased” that this advice is being followed. The travelers association hopes that this will lead to “greater reliability of the railway and therefore better services for train passengers”.
