The NS is reducing the rush-hour surcharge to a maximum of 2.50 euros in an ultimate attempt to get the controversial surcharge passed by the House of Representatives this week.
NS CEO Wouter Koolmees will visit The Hague on Monday with the promise that the levy will amount to a maximum of 2.50 euros per train journey. Four out of five trips should become cheaper.
A large majority of VVD, GroenLinks/PvdA, D66, CDA, PVV, SP and ChristenUnie want to get rid of the peak tax. Many people, including teachers, cleaners and nurses, cannot avoid rush hour, they say. “Dutch public transport is already among the most expensive in Europe,” says VVD member Fahid Minhas. “Then there should not be an additional rush hour tax.”
In the adjusted plans, train passengers between 8:00 and 8:30 in the morning – the hyper rush hour – will pay a surcharge of 2.50 euros. From 7:30 am to 8:00 am and from 8:30 am to 9:00 am it is 1.50 euros. NS wants to charge a slightly lower surcharge of 2 euros in the evening, between 5:00 PM and 5:30 PM. The thirty minutes before and after are 1.50 euros.
Traveler distribution
The money raised will make the other train journeys cheaper, NS promises. “80 percent of all journeys drop in price,” explains NS spokesperson Geert Koolen. “We have calculated an average decrease of 17 percent.”
In concrete terms, the rush hour charge means that a second-class single ticket from Amsterdam to Utrecht will soon cost 11.30 euros during the morning rush hour, compared to 8.80 euros now. That is 22 percent more expensive. Koolmees spoke earlier de Volkskrant about a surcharge of ‘tens of percent’. A recent PwC study on a new fare system mentioned a surcharge of up to 4 euros per ticket.
NS emphasizes that the rush hour charge, which should come into effect in 2026, only applies to busy routes. “On quiet lines, travelers do not have to pay extra. In that sense it is more of a ‘busy train surcharge.’ Regional travelers outside the Randstad certainly benefit. “In cities such as Enschede, Groningen and Maastricht, rush hour is not that busy at all and the rush hour charge is not introduced.”
Thanks to the rush hour charge, train ticket prices will not have to increase as quickly in the future, NS explains the reasons for the controversial measure. Due to the current rush hour traffic, the carrier has to hold many more trains than if there was a better distribution of passengers. That costs a lot of money.
Hanging iron
The question is whether the House of Representatives will be convinced. Especially during this campaign period, parties are demanding an affordable train ticket, and so there is widespread dissatisfaction with the proposed rush hour tax. Even D66, long the biggest supporter, sees little point in it. “The train is already quite expensive and should not become even more expensive,” says party spokeswoman Lisa van Ginneken. “For now, we should just leave the rush hour tax on the shelf.”
The rush hour charge is the hottest political issue in the so-called main rail network concession (HRN). As far as the cabinet is concerned, NS will continue to run on the 5,000 kilometer long domestic track from 2025. Although almost all parties support this intention, there is widespread dissatisfaction about the conditions under which NS is allowed to do this.
There is a feeling from left to right that State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure) is giving the carrier a hard time. They demand adjustment of a number of agreements. Traveler organization Rover is also very dissatisfied.
Dotting the i’s
Although NS will lose most international routes in the new concession, NS will no longer have to pay a concession fee of 86 million per year. Train tickets are also becoming a lot more expensive, partly due to the rush hour tax and increased wage costs for staff. At the same time, NS hardly needs to run extra trains in the region and trains do not need to run better on time.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives canceled the additional increase of 3.5 percent with which the train ticket may increase next year. A motion by the ChristenUnie and GroenLinks/PvdA received broad support. “We as the House of Representatives still have to put the finishing touches on this, but that will be fine,” says PvdA member De Hoop.
“I don’t understand why the cabinet has made such a bad deal,” says VVD member Fahid Minhas. “As a rail monopolist, NS has no incentive to perform better than in recent years.” The Christian Union questions the professional knowledge about railways at Heijnen’s ministry. “Otherwise I don’t understand why this is the outcome,” says Stieneke van der Graaf. “You should not only invest externally, but also have professional knowledge in-house.”
More trains
The PVV believes that NS should be challenged more, says Barry Madlener. He also lacks focus on the safety of staff and travelers. “That is completely missing from the concession.”
NS boss Koolmees can therefore wet his chest on Monday when he visits the Chamber. There he will explain the concession and answer questions. The parliamentary debate will then follow on Tuesday. In concrete terms, parties are demanding, among other things, more trains to the north. Arriva is eager to start running and has promised twice as many sprinters and rush-hour trains between Zwolle – Groningen and Zwolle-Leeuwarden. However, the government wants to keep these routes with NS.
D66, VVD, but also CU certainly do not think this is automatic. “Arriva has previously proven that it can drive well on lines that NS wanted to get rid of,” says Lisa van Ginneken (D66), among others. “We really need to talk about that.” According to VVD, State Secretary Heijnen is letting train passengers down here.
The left-wing bloc is against a lot of market forces in principle and wants to keep the northern lines with NS. “But we can certainly adjust the requirements for NS upwards,” says PvdA MP Habtamu de Hoop, partly on behalf of GroenLinks.
On time
A majority in Parliament also believes that NS should ensure that trains run on time. Now the carrier almost always achieves the national minimum standard of 89 percent. With a good score at many small stations, NS compensates for poorer punctuality around major cities such as Breda, where only 83.6 of the trains run on time, Rotterdam and Eindhoven. In addition, a number of parties want a minimum accessibility standard to be included in the concession. It will then be clear how often NS must run at least on quiet routes and quiet moments.
All in all, the House of Representatives demands that State Secretary Heijnen returns to the negotiating table. “We and other parties have provided so much input to the cabinet last year,” says Van der Graaf (CU). “I hardly see anything of that in the agreements. It cannot be the case that we as the House of Representatives have to sign the cross. We don’t do that.”
Arriva is now on the fence. The regional carrier wants to take over 24 local trains and 2 intercity trains from NS, CEO Anne Hettinga said on Saturday in an interview with De Volkskrant. Arriva submitted requests to the market master, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), on Friday to achieve this. In the past, the company filed several lawsuits over the main rail network concession, but so far without success.
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