Rail Transport in The Netherlands - Operators

Operators

Public transport authorities in the Netherlands issue concessions for collections of lines.

• Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; Dutch Railways) - core internal passenger rail network (Hoofdrailnet), including parts with a night service (see below), and also some secondary lines
• Arriva Netherlands - the northern secondary lines, the eastern lines and a central line
• Breng - part of one eastern line (second operator on this line, in addition to Arriva)
• Syntus - one eastern secondary line
• Veolia Transport - southern secondary lines
• Connexxion - two secondary lines
• NS Hispeed - main international trains, and domestic high speed service Fyra

A few Dutch railway stations are served, even for journeys within the country, by foreign railway companies under the responsibility of NS; these companies are:

• DB Regio, including DB Regionalbahn Westfalen and DB Euregiobahn
• NMBS/SNCB - Maastricht - Eijsden, as part of the Maastricht - Liège service

There is partly a common tariff system. Increasingly operators apply separate tariffs, see below.

Most trains have 1st and 2nd class; some local trains belonging to Syntus only have 2nd class.

The largest cargo carrier in the Netherlands is DB Schenker, others are ACTS, Crossrail, ERS Railways, Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln, Rail4chem and Veolia Cargo.

The whole network itself is maintained and organised by the government agency ProRail, it is also responsible for allocating slots to the different companies.