Koolmees (45) was Minister of Social Affairs and Employment until the beginning of this year, but did not return in the new cabinet. The economist was previously a member of parliament on behalf of D66 for seven years and worked for the Ministry of Finance. In a press statement Koolmees calls itself a ‘large consumer’ of the train. As such, he was able to witness his biggest short-term problem with his own eyes: NS urgently needs 1,400 new employees, with a number of 2,200 in the near future. If those people do not make it, this may have further consequences for the timetable.
‘The stretch is gone, the work is increasingly weighing on a smaller group, with all its consequences,’ warned the current NS director Bert Groenewegen on Thursday. “If we continue like this, we may have to decide to scale down our timetable further.” The NS already cut back the timetable in September and will scale down even further in December.
Under-performing
This leads to many complaints from travelers about full compartments. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (infrastructure) believes that the NS is performing below par. “The way travelers are served is not enough,” she said recently. As far as passenger organization Rover and members of parliament are concerned, the NS has to look for more creative solutions to boost the service. The traveler’s organization suggests, among other things, deploying office and shop staff to run the trains.
The NS could also adjust its work regulations. They now prohibit conductors from covering too many trains. For this, the NS management must have the support of the employees and the powerful railway unions.
Rail concession until 2024
The second dossier that Koolmees gets on his plate is the railway concession, the permit to drive on the Dutch railways. The one for the main network will expire in 2024. Although the cabinet wants to award the next concession (2025-2035) privately to NS again, competitors are targeting train connections that NS currently operates. These include regional carriers Arriva, EBS, Transdev, QBuzz and Keolis, subsidiaries of foreign carriers.
‘The outside world is cutting at our chair legs’, says Groenewegen. “Inconceivable, inadmissible, and I will resist that to the end.” The future will show how promising the resistance is. After all, it is not only competitors who initiate legal proceedings over the direct award, the European Commission is also threatening the Netherlands with a lawsuit. Brussels demands that the cabinet also consider other transport companies. The House of Representatives will meet on Tuesday to discuss the issue.