Description

The risk that, due to numerous major planned interruptions to the service, lagging investment and political pressure on ProRail, there will be a shortage of rail infrastructure capacity and a lack of improvement in the quality, so that NS cannot achieve its growth goals and operational improvements to the extent it wishes.

Explanation

In implementing the scheduled service, NS is dependent on having a sufficiently reliable rail infrastructure. Over the next few years, NS needs more infrastructure capacity and an increased infrastructure quality because of its growth ambitions, high-frequency services and the introduction of large quantities of new rolling stock. There is also pressure on the infrastructure due to increased safety requirements for example at shunting yards, environmental requirements (noise) and planned interruptions to the service due to the considerable amount of engineering work. The reliability of the infrastructure now and in the future is also critical given that this has a big impact on the ability to achieve the agreed performance targets in the Transport Plan.

Measures

NS is collaborating intensively with the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and ProRail to make sure that the infrastructure is tailored to the requirements of the agreements in the long-term rail agenda. The Better and More programme is one example of this intensive collaboration. NS is closely involved in the planning process at ProRail and seeks to exert influence on the improvements specified in ProRail’s roadmap. NS is collaborating with ProRail and the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment in the Handling and Combining Capacity programme, the ERTMS programme and the High-frequency Rail Transport programme. NS also shows which of NS’s KPIs are linked to the infrastructure. We proactively inform customers of interruptions to services via various communication channels and we put on replacement bus services wherever possible.

Risk control trend

Control has worsened as a result of uncertainty concerning changes to the management of ProRail, the weak pace of investment, increased safety requirements and environmental requirements and interruptions to the service due to the large amount of work on the track.

Residual risk

High. The current risk profile does not yet match the desired risk profile.