DURING a Parliamentary meeting on railways, Dutch secretary of state for infrastructure, Mrs. Wilma Mansveld announced that the government is willing to provide funds for the electrification of the Maas Line from Nijmegen to Roermond via Venlo.

THE Dutch cabinet has approved a €2.5bn budget to install ERTMS on all trains by 2022 and on the busiest sections of the national rail network by 2030.

INTERNATIONAL high-speed operator Thalys launched a new twice-daily direct service between Amsterdam Central and Lille Europe on April 12.

THE DUTCH province of South Holland has selected Netherlands Railways (NS) and its German subsidiary Abellio Regio NRW to operate regional passenger services on the electrified line between Gouda – Alphen-aan-den-Rijn.

AT the request of manufacturer Bombardier, Netherlands Railways (NS) withdrew its entire fleet of Traxx F140 MS (class 186) multi-system locomotives from service on April 8 due to excessive pantograph wear.

THE CEO of Dutch infrastructure manager Prorail, Mrs Marion Gout-van Sinderen, tendered her resignation unexpectedly on April 3.

WITH passenger volumes on non-electrified lines in the Dutch province of Groningen increasing steadily, Arriva Netherlands has ordered additional intermediate sections for six of its Stadler GTW 2/6 dmus.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has announced plans to refurbish its fleet of first generation VIRM double-deck emus, the oldest of which entered service 20 years ago.

NETHERLANDS Railways (NS) and Finmeccanica, the parent company of Italian rolling stock manufacturer AnsaldoBreda, have reached a settlement on the future of the V250 Fyra high-speed trains and the cancellation of the contract by NS.