NETHERLANDS: The Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) has ruled that open-access operator GoVolta’s planned services do not endanger the main rail network concession held by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). It grants access for three new international routes and domestic passengers on two services already notified.
State-owned operator NS asked the Dutch competition and rail regulator for an economic equilibrium test in a letter dated 26 August. The test lets a concession holder ask whether a new open-access service would undermine the economics of its public service contract.
In a decision dated 9 September and published on 17 September, ACM concluded that the 2025–2033 concession is not at risk and ordered that access to the infrastructure be granted for every service GoVolta notified.
ACM did not check NS’s calculations but noted that NS’s own estimate of the fall in its internal return is below 0.2 percentage points. Under ACM’s method, a fall that small does not normally count as a substantial negative effect. The decision does not allocate capacity, which GoVolta still has to obtain from infrastructure manager ProRail.
What the decision covers
GoVolta notified the services to ACM on 28 July. The three new routes are:
The Hague Central–Luxembourg/Strasbourg – twice daily.
The Hague Central–Cologne – three times daily on weekdays.
Amsterdam Central–Paris over the high-speed line – three times daily.
The decision also changes two services GoVolta had notified earlier, Amsterdam–Berlin and Amsterdam–Paris on the classic line, so that they may carry passengers travelling within the Netherlands. The Amsterdam–Berlin train has run since March. The classic-line Paris train, for which GoVolta opened ticket sales in May, is not yet in service.
None of the start dates appear in the decision. The intended start dates are in GoVolta’s notifications, published by ACM on 31 July: domestic passengers on the Berlin train from 28 September and the Paris train from 14 December. The notification gives 12 December 2027 as the intended start for the two Hague routes and 10 December 2028 for the high-speed Paris service.
How the test was decided
The test rests on Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2018/1795 and the Dutch Passenger Transport Act 2000. NS’s figure stayed under the 0.2-point line for the new services alone and cumulatively. The figures themselves are removed from the public version of the decision as confidential.
NS had asked for a cumulative test covering every open-access service notified so far. ACM counted only notifications filed after the concession was awarded. Those are GoVolta’s Amsterdam–Bruges service, European Sleeper’s Brussels–Milan night train via Breda and Eindhoven, and Arriva’s Amersfoort/The Hague HS–Paris service.
ACM added that the new services are mainly international connections that do not exist as concession traffic, and that the net benefits for passengers are relatively large. An estimated effect above 0.2 percentage points would therefore not automatically mean the equilibrium is at risk, the regulator said.
Capacity and objections
GoVolta must now apply to ProRail for train paths. If there is not room for all applicants, concession trains take priority under the Dutch capacity allocation decree.
Interested parties have six weeks from the day the decision was published to lodge an objection with ACM. Whether NS will object is not known.