The rates for the use of the Dutch railway network have been published. Infrastructure manager ProRail published the Network Statement for 2023 on Friday 11 December. The Network Statement lists all services the infra manager provides, with corresponding rates.

In the Netherlands, about fifty different carriers use the railway network. The Network Statement is ProRail’s catalog of products and services. This contains information about the nature and use of the main railway infrastructure, as well as about the access conditions, the services and the associated rates.

Criticism

ProRail previously published the draft Network Statement. This was received with a lot of criticism from the industry, some of which has led to adjustments in the final version. Freight carriers in particular made use of the option to provide feedback, because they would be faced with much higher costs.

State Secretary Steven van Weyenberg of Infrastructure and Water Management will set up a temporary subsidy scheme to compensate for this cost increase. Also this was criticised by the industry, as it would be ‘more of its own cigar than actual funding’.

User fee

Part of the Network Statement is the so-called user charge. Rail carriers pay for the use of the track, but also for the overhead wires, platforms and sidings and shunting sidings.

ProRail has developed a new method for determining the user charge. Compared to the previous method, according to the rail manager, the new system is based more on the ‘user pays’ principle, whereby the tariffs are more in line with the actual costs. “It is important to mention that on balance the usage fee will not exceed the current amount, which is approximately 375 million euros, excluding additional tax.”

Do you want to know what the user fees are for 2023? You can read the Network Statement here (in Dutch).