It came a bit unexpected. Carrier Arriva can still have trains run all day from rail manager ProRail on workdays between Groningen, Assen and Zwolle.
Arriva goes a train every hour in both directions, in addition to the slow trains and intercity’s of NS that are already driving.
Arriva is assigned 24 of the 26 requested rides. This largely solved a fight between Arriva and ProRail about the extra train service.
“It actually comes as a surprise. We received the very thick package with all requests for our train services throughout the country and then this was unexpectedly in between, while this was not the case with the draft design in June,” says Nikkie Smit of Arriva.
“From Monday to Friday we will drive every hour in both directions between Groningen and Zwolle. Twelve journeys there and back. In the rush hour, those journeys are shortened to the Zwolle – Assen route, because then the Dutch Railways will already run with an extra pointed spin between Assen and Groningen. Except on Friday, then the NS Spitspendendel will not drive again.”
It will be an intermediate form between an intercity and a slow train that will not stop at the stations of Haren and Beilen. Between Groningen and Zwolle there is a stop at Groningen Europapark, Assen, Hoogeveen and Meppel.
The first trains of Arriva can already start running from December 14 this year. But according to the company, that will not work. Smit: “People need to be trained and trains are being sought. We will make plans for the next two weeks and after that it might be more clear when we can drive in 2026.”
Later it must also become clear what a train ticket will cost. Arriva will run the train connection without the government’s contribution.
Arriva and ProRail argue about the extra train service between Groningen – Assen – Zwolle. According to ProRail there was no capacity on the track, according to Arriva it is there.
According to ProRail, that was in too many trains during rush hour, the track stroke, an excess of trains in an hour and the power demand for the extra trains. So Arriva was only assigned four of the requested journeys per day. Too little for the carrier to train extra people for that and to buy or use trains.
Arriva presented the case to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), but he only ruled that ProRail had to look at her decision again and be more transparent about how she tracks down the capacity distribution. After a reconsideration, ProRail did not come with a different capacity distribution.
According to Aldert Baas van ProRail, the key is now in “another capacity application from Arriva with other driving times”. That is why it all fits now. “The infralimites and the method of allocation have remained the same. And what the ACM says about more transparency about the distribution, we now also do.”
What Arriva is going to do between Groningen and Zwolle is driving under ‘Open Access.’ That is the case: Arriva will use the European rules for ‘open access.’ NS now has the exclusive right to many large rail connections in the Netherlands, the so -called main rail network.
That means that the railway company is the only one to drive on those routes. Companies such as Arriva, Keolis and Qbuzz, which are only allowed to ride on regional railway lines, believe that monopoly position of the NS is unfair.
Europe has arranged that carriers other than the concessionaire of the main rail network are allowed to ride on the main rail network, if there is still capacity. Since the beginning of 2023, Arriva has been providing a nocturnal train connection between Groningen, Assen, Zwolle and Schiphol from Friday to Saturday in such a way.
In fact, Arriva wants the main rail concession to no longer automatically go to NS and then it then has the exclusive right. Arriva has been fighting this for years with other carriers and there is still a lawsuit.