It remains “financially complicated times,” says Wouter Koolmees. The President Director of NS is on a stage in the carriage shed in Amersfoort, one of the monumental workshops of the railway company.
Behind him is a life -size model of the new double -decker that NS wants to use from 2029. “This is the DDNG, the double -decker new generation – now mainly wood and cardboard.”
NS ordered sixty of these new double -deckers from the Spanish train manufacturer CAF. Costs: at least 600 million euros. It is the first time that NS has shown the appearance of the new train. This is partly double -deck to be able to transport enough passengers and partly single -set for accessibility for travelers in a wheelchair or with a pram.
Koolmees’ message during the presentation of the annual figures, Wednesday morning in Amersfoort, is certainly not just about new editions. NS must continue to save, according to the president director. Then the railway company can become financially healthy again.
NS achieved a negative underlying result last year – without incidental items – of 141 million euros. That was slightly better than the loss of 187 million euros for 2023, but NS still publishes more than the company receives. This is mainly because NS still transports fewer travelers than for the Coronacrisis (2024: 92 percent of the number in 2019). The railway company only expects to transport just as many travelers in 2030 as for COVID-19.
NS wants to structurally save around 200 million euros per year, around 5 percent of its costs. To this end, it wants to spend less at the head office in Utrecht, automation, energy and housing. It is unknown whether job places are killed.
From 2020 to 2024, NS already spent 1.4 billion euros less. “But that is not enough,” said financial director Angelique Magielse. Although the railway company achieved 10 percent more yields from traveler transport and 8 percent more from the operation of stations, the costs also increased by 8 percent. And that burden growth is in danger of becoming stronger in the coming years.
Magielse mentioned as explanatory factors, including rising wage costs, higher costs for energy and costs for the recruitment of staff. NS now has 21,000 employees. In recent years it has mainly fallen for drivers and conductors, now scarcity is still playing at the Safety & Service department, and in the long term with technical positions. Relatively many engineers will retire in the coming years.
The shortage of technical staff can pinch in the coming years if the commissioning of new Intercity’s (ICNGs) coincides with the arrival of the DDNG. Koolmees, however, expects that the ICNG, plagued by production problems in recent years, will soon be fully in use. Meanwhile, 45 are driving, all 109 ordered ICNGs must be used in 2027.
Replacement transport
The results also have increased inconvenience. Wouter Koolmees pointed to the “record number of work” last year. For 2025, manager ProRail counts on another 40 percent more work on repair, maintenance and renewal of the track.
While ProRail previously mainly used holiday periods, weekends and the night for maintenance, activities are now also regularly taking place outside these periods. As a result, replacement transport had to be arranged more often – a cost item of 23 million euros. Moreover, the number of claims from travelers who asked for money back in the event of a delay increased by almost 20 percent, to more than 335,000. The railway company compensated them for 3.6 million euros.
In 2024, NS rode 89.4 percent of the intercity’s and slow trains on time. That is slightly better that the 88.9 percent that the carrier has agreed with the government. NS did not reach the soil values on the high-speed line (HSL-Zuid); Only 69 percent of the trains ran on time. The agreement is 82.1 percent.
NS must continue to cut back, stated Koolmees, but “we want to spare travelers as much as possible”. However, he could not exclude that the savings will be the service of the company in the coming years.
Saving without undressing the timetable seems impossible to NS. The annual cut in 200 million has been agreed with State Secretary Chris Jansen (Infrastructure and Water Management, PVV). New savings at NS are not possible, he reported the House of Representatives last month.
Travelers will notice it, Koolmees said if NS decided, for example, to have fewer trains run on Friday. On that day, fewer people are already taking the train – Tuesday and Thursday are the most popular office days – but every train that scraps NS damages the services.
It is still unclear to what extent NS will increase the rates next year. The railway company is negotiating with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management about a structural solution to absorb the inflation of recent years. This year the price of transport tickets increased more than 6 percent; That would have been even more without the one -off subsidy of 120 million euros that the cabinet gave. This spring more must be known about the rates as of 2026.