The operational loss for the first half of the year decreased slightly to 60 million euros, from 65 million euros in the same period last year. “Still clearly insufficient for a financially healthy NS,” said the company. To make a profit again, the Dutch Railways must “continue to save and attract more travelers in the coming years, especially in off -peak hours where there is still a lot of room on the train.”
According to the company, the costs remain higher than the revenues from the sale of train tickets and subscriptions. The net loss for the first six months of the year amounted to 9 million euros.
NS stands for sharp choices
The railway company says it should continue to make sharp choices to ‘keep train tickets’ relatively affordable’ and to touch the traveler ‘as little as possible’ with savings. “And that while we are also confronted with cuts on public transport and a lower government contribution for the public transport student cards, which saves 97 million euros on an annual basis,” said the group.
Train ticket will become 6 to 9 percent more expensive in 2026
In addition, the Dutch Railways indicates that the inflation that has declined the costs in recent years is not entirely in the prices of the train tickets. Earlier this month, outgoing State Secretary Thierry Aartsen (public transport) announced that train tickets will be 6 to 9 percent more expensive next year.
Revenues and costs
The proceeds from traveler transport rose slightly to nearly 1.6 billion euros in the first half, “despite the fact that NS had to deal with the NATO tops, strikes, activities and relatively many infrastructures in this period.” In the past period, the company invested 146 million euros in, among other things, the purchase and modernization of trains and the expansion and sustainability of workshops, stations and offices. The Dutch Railways also invested in attracting new employees.
The Dutch Railways want the structural costs to fall by 200 million euros from 2028, including by having the head office shrinking and saving on hiring, IT and housing costs. “NS is doing everything it can to ensure that savings have as little impact as possible on travelers and the operation. However, that is not fully prevented,” says the company. At the end of this year, the Dutch Railways expect to have realized 50 million euros of the 200 million in structural annual savings.