Last year, Dutch Railways (NS) made a profit from passenger transport for the first time since 2019. The profit of 11 million euros is due to price increases for train tickets and season tickets, a slight increase in passenger numbers, and cost savings.

Revenues from passenger transport rose by 7% to 3.36 billion euros. In total, all train passengers traveled nearly 3% more kilometers with NS, approximately 16.5 billion kilometers. Revenues from station operations increased by 6% to 556 million euros.

Despite the profit, NS says the result is insufficient to ensure financial health – last year, the railway company posted a loss of 141 million euros.

Fewer people are still traveling by train than before the Covid-19 pandemic, partly because working from home has become the norm. As a result, losses have accumulated, partly because investments in new trains were required. Consequently, debts have now risen to more than 1.2 billion euros.

To eliminate these debts, NS is currently implementing a program to achieve 200 million in structural cost savings, of which 60 million euros were achieved last year. Among other things, NS wants to reduce the number of office staff and lower IT and consulting costs.

Extensive work on the railroad

Furthermore, trains ran on time more often in 2024 than in the previous year (85% of train journeys arrived with less than a 3-minute delay), and passengers were less likely to have to stand during rush hour because more trains were available and more staff had been recruited.

In addition, the long-term speed restrictions that plague the high-speed line are now included in the timetable. Also noteworthy: According to the NS, an average of around 200,000 fare dodgers were fined in recent years, but now that number has doubled.

The NS also warns that passengers may experience disruption in the coming period due to the extensive work that railway operator ProRail has to carry out – more than 400 are expected. This is increasingly taking place during the day and on working days.