The Dutch Railways have also been hit hard by the consequences of the corona crisis, today it announced that they closed the year with a net loss of no less than 2,6 billion euros. This is much higher than expected. Fortunately, 2019 was a top year for the Dutch Railways, when they had a net result of 215 million euros. The poor results of last year can of course be explained by the low numbers of travelers who used the train, due to the corona measures.
Marjan Rintel, CEO at NS: “I would like to pay a big compliment to our colleagues who continued to transport passengers during the pandemic in difficult circumstances. In 2021 we want to be there for the traveler again. We are grateful for the availability fee in effect until September 2021. In order to maintain this year's timetable and the new timetable in 2022 and beyond, we need new financial agreements, given the lower passenger numbers. This is despite the € 1,4 billion savings program that NS is implementing in the period up to and including 2024. In addition to an availability fee for running trains during this difficult period, investments in rail will continue to be necessary in the long term to keep the Netherlands accessible. Due to the enormous housing challenge, the demand for public transport will eventually increase sharply again in the long term. ”
The shops and catering establishments at the stations also had less turnover due to the consequences of the corona crisis. The Main Rail network is expected to be heavily loss-making until at least 2024. The Dutch Railways expects that it will not be back to the passenger level of 2025 until 2019 at the earliest Dutch railways a savings program of 1,4 billion euros has been started, which will last until 2024. They want to save 1,4 billion euros by shrinking the organization, including the scrapping of about 2300 jobs.
