Looking ahead

With the award of the new main rail network concession 2025-2033, passengers can remain assured of a sustainable train service and the Netherlands will retain a strong and cohesive network. We expect to see further financial challenges for NS in the years ahead. In the coming years, NS will have to continue borrowing to fund all of its investments, which means that net debt will remain high.

The main rail network concession agreements have been updated with effect from the new concession: for instance, from 2025 NS will receive a concession subsidy of €13 million per year instead of paying a concession fee (2024: €86 million). At the same time, the conditions under which NS operates will remain complex in the coming years. The long-term drop in passenger numbers, a tight labour market, extensive infrastructure works and continuing rises in costs mean that our organisation needs to do more to adapt. We will continue our efforts to reduce our costs in order to improve our financial performance. Alongside a cost-reduction programme initiated in 2020, NS is taking an additional package of cost-cutting measures designed to reduce annual costs by an additional €200 million. These cost-cutting measures include reducing head office staff (through natural attrition), reducing IT systems, disposing of office space, energy-efficient operation and formation of trains and productivity improvements. We are also making these savings to keep train fares affordable.

Train fares did not go up in 2024. To compensate for lost revenue, NS received a one-off compensation payment from the government of €120 million in 2024. The failure to identify a long-term solution to this problem means that NS would be forced to implement the delayed fare increase in 2025 on top of regular inflation. This would increase fares by more than 12% as of 1 January 2025, which is not desirable. NS reached a new deal with the government for 2025 in which the government will provide compensation of €42 million (around one-third of the fare increase), NS will bear one-third of the costs, and the last part will be passed on to passengers. Consequently, it was possible to limit the 2025 price increase to an average of 6.18%. A long-term solution still needs to be found, as NS will otherwise be forced to implement the delayed fare increase in the future.

Finally, NS will face a long-term reduction in student pass fares in 2025. Another one-off compensation payment of €97 million was received in 2024 to offset this reduction. This will reduce student pass revenues by a similar amount in 2025 as in 2024.