Netherlands misses EU deadline to address NS monopoly on Dutch railway

The Dutch government has missed the deadline to respond to the European Commission’s questions and concerns about the rail company NS’s near monopoly on the Dutch railway. Europe will now almost certainly take the matter to court, especially because the European Commission wants to showcase that the EU will no longer blindly tolerate the monopolies of state-owned railway companies, the Telegraaf reports.

European Commissioner Adina Valean first contacted the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure in the summer of 2020, when the government expressed its intention to again extend NS’s main railway network concession. The concession gives the state-owned company exclusive rights to operate over 90 percent of train traffic in the Netherlands. Only a handful of regional lines are in the hands of companies like Arriva, Qbuzz, and Transdev.

But according to the European Commission, a free market with fair competition is needed to ensure the best possible service at the best possible price for travelers. The Netherlands should at least do a market analysis to see whether commercial parties can provide part of the train passport, was the message.

On 21 December 2023, the Netherlands officially awarded the HRN concession privately to NS again. It took effect on 1 January 2025. In response, the European Commission warned of “significant legal and financial consequences.” In February, the Commission sent a last letter to the Ministry, giving the Netherlands two months to address its concerns. That deadline has now passed, according to the newspaper.

The European Commission will now take the matter to the Court of Justice in Luxembourg. State Secretary Chris Jansen of Infrastructure hopes that the court will rule that the concession is in order.

But the court may cancel the concession, possibly even retroactively. Several sources told the Telegraaf that this could cost the Dutch treasury billions of euros in fines and penalty payments. “A penalty is a minimum of 4,170 and a maximum of 250,200 euros per day, a fine is a minimum of 3,892,000 euros per violation, there is no maximum,” the Telegraaf quoted from a letter to parliament. Competitors could also file damage claims.