Arriva wants to remove the northern concerns about the slow trains to Zwolle by recording its ‘long-term’ promises with the government or in the existing concession.
Groningen, Friesland and Drenthe are concerned about the possibility that Arriva will take over the slow trains Groningen/Leeuwarden – Zwolle from NS at the end of 2025. This could happen if the cabinet removes these routes from the so-called main rail network.
Open access
Based on new European regulations (open access to the track), Arriva has submitted a plan for (more and faster) local trains on its own initiative. That plan has since been labeled as realistic by the Authority for Consumers and Markets.
If the government grants permission, NS will continue to run only the intercity trains above Zwolle and Arriva will get the slow trains. The government seems to feel that way. Arriva will then not receive a subsidy and the Netherlands will have made a good turn in Brussels by privately awarding the main track to NS. It can thus show that it is indeed working on new regulations.
Anxious
The provinces are afraid that Arriva can do what it wants under the open access arrangement. With open access, no supervisor is designated to reprimand a carrier in the event of non-performance.
The provinces expressed their concern in letters to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. They fear that Arriva will just give up after a few years, will not get around to announced improvements, will suddenly increase rates or make a mess of things for other reasons.
Arriva calls that nonsense, because it would kill its right to exist in one fell swoop. “With open access, the government can just as well set frameworks to guarantee the desired quality. We would like to make agreements about this and record that we will maintain that for a long time,” Arriva now writes.
According to director Anne Hettinga, these agreements can also be included in the concession for the northern lines. Years ago, his company tried to arrange for local trains to be placed with the provinces, but that turned out to be a step too far.
Concession
Train traffic is currently still covered by concessions for which the national government (main railway) and the provinces are responsible. The state is responsible for the slow trains and intercity trains between Zwolle and Groningen/Leeuwarden. Groningen and Friesland are those for the so-called northern lines (Groningen-Leeuwarden and the railway lines to Stavoren, Harlingen, Eemshaven, Delfzijl, Bas Nieuweschans/Leer and Veendam) and Drenthe and Overijssel for the Vechtdal lines. It is not Arriva but the province that determines whether, for example, a toilet or first-class compartment will be on the train.
The company takes away an important concern: the regular public transport rates will apply to the local trains with all forms of payment, such as OVpay. “The traveler experiences it as regular public transport.” A different system applies to the night trains from Arriva to Schiphol, which also started under open access.
Improvements
Arriva says that its timetable represents a huge improvement compared to NS’s slow trains and hopes that the outgoing cabinet will introduce the modernization.
According to Arriva, its slow trains are faster (4 to 5 minutes from Groningen, 2 to 3 from Leeuwarden, but Heerenveen Thialf station will be added) and there will be extra journeys in the morning, so that the intercity no longer has to stop. Hoogeveen and Meppel will also receive four trains per hour and there will be shorter transfer times on the northern lines. “We are building one big network.”