NS manipulated, withheld data in high-speed Fyra bid

Dutch national railway NS withheld information from the Parliament and the Ministry of Transport during the Fyra bid, writes newspaper NRC. The company also used account manipulations to win the license. That follows from parliament questioning of Nol Döbken, the former general manager of the High Speed Alliance (HSA), a former subsidiary of NS. The parliamentary commission came in possession of internal memos from the company that described the alleged manipulations. One of those suggested to postpone negotiations with the state as far as possible, because the government "still has no alternative." In 2002, the NS tried to push the Parliament to impose pricing restrictions. The argument for it was that it should attract more travelers. However, the memos suggest that the purpose of the imposition was NS's profit maximization. Döbken initially claimed he was not familiar with the memos. He later said that he tried to mitigate the position of the HSA.