NS international train tickets often much more expensive than other EU rail companies

International train tickets can often be purchased much cheaper from a foreign rail company than from NS, according to an RTL Nieuws analysis of train fares. For example, the same trip on the same train from Amsterdam to Budapest costs almost 40 euros less at the Hungarian company MAV-Start than at NS.

NS charges 109.90 euros for the train trip from Amsterdam to Budapest. The same journey at the same time on the same train costs around 66 euros at MAV-Start, depending on the time of booking.

People who live in Roosendaal often cross the border to Essen in Belgium, 8 kilometers away, to take the train to Antwerp, according to the broadcaster. Roosendaal has its own train station, but a return train ticket from Essen to Antwerp costs 6.60 euros per person on the weekend at the NMBS. While from Roosendaal to Antwerp, NS charges 16.40 euros per person on the same train, which also stops at Essen.

People buying a duo ticket for two people at the NMBS save even more. A duo return ticket from Essen to Antwerp costs 10.60 euros. NS doesn’t have a duo ticket, so two people will pay 32.80 euros from Roosendaal to Antwerp. The train trip from Roosendaal to Essen only takes eight minutes.

Train travel within the Netherlands is also relatively expensive, measured by distance, according to RTL. A return ticket from Breda to The Hague costs 31 euros without a discount. For the same distance in Belgium, Antwerp-Nijvel, you pay 26 euros. In Germany, Neuss-Dortmund, it is around 20 euros.

“It is absolutely undesirable that there are price differences,” Eva Taylor Parkins of travelers’ organization Rover told RTL Nieuws. “The traveler should have certainty that he is paying the best price for the trip. Ideally, the traveler should therefore pay the same price through every booking channel.”