The Dutch government appears to be ignoring EU rules requiring that national rail systems be opened up to competition, and will now be taken to court by the European Commission.
EU rules require that rail infrastructure be open to competing carriers, including both other countries’ national operators and private operators. The EU rules are based on the idea that a free market with fair competition is needed to ensure the best possible service at the best possible price for travelers. The rules took effect in stages between 2007 and 2021.
The last stage, opening domestic routes to competition took effect in 2021, but the Netherlands has continued granting rights only to the state-owned carrier NS, with new awards in 2021, 2023 and now 2025. The Commission warned the Netherlands in February, warning of “significant legal and financial consequences,” and giving a two-month deadline for response. That deadline has now passed.
Other member countries, including especially Spain, France, Germany and Italy, have seen a growth of private operators and competition from state carriers; Spain and France now have extensive domestic operations in each other’s countries.
The case will now go to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, which could cancel the current NS rights, even retroactively, and could impose huge fines against the Dutch government. The Dutch newspaper Telegraaf reported that “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.” Potential competitors could also file damage claims.
Image: Koplopermau/Wikimedia Commons
I sympathise with the Dutch. The privatisation of the UK’s railway system – supposedly to create competition amongst different operators – has been an unmitigated disaster.
To be fair, this is a different circumstance: No one is asking the Dutch to privatize NS, but rather to allow other train operators to run competing services.
That’s the same rule that has allowed Flix, Italo and other privately-owned operators to operate alongside the state-owned operators in Germany, Italy, Spain and elsewhere, and which has also allowed lively competition by some of those state-owned operators in each other’s territories.
That said, it appears that state-owned operators are among both the best and worst of Europe’s systems, nearly all of which are in any case a source of envy to those of us who have only Amtrak.