Maatschappij Tot Exploitatie Van Staatsspoorwegen

The Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen () or SS (''Company for the Exploitation of the State Railways'') was a private

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

founded to use the government funded railways. The company existed until 1938, when it formally merged with the

Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij The Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij () or HSM (''Hollands Iron Railway-Company'') was the first railway company in the Netherlands founded on 8 August 1837 as a private company, starting operation in 1839 with a line between Amsterdam ...

(HSM) to form the

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...

. The SS was, along with the HSM, the largest railroad company in the Netherlands. In the 19th century, the government constructed a number of state railroads, the '' staatslijnen'', to (major) cities and regions not yet served by the other railroads, but for which it was deemed important to connect them to the country's rail network. These lines were primarily located outside of the relatively densely populated

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

region, where the HSM ran services on the main lines. The SS was then founded as a private company to use these lines. In 1890 the SS began to use the lines previously run by the defunct

Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij The Dutch Rhenish Railway or Dutch–Rhenish Railway ( nl, 'Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg' or ) was a Dutch railway company active from 1845 until 1890. History The Dutch Rhenish Railway Company Limited was founded in Amsterdam on 3 July 1845 to t ...

, and in 1919 it also began to use lines run by the

Nederlandsche Centraal-Spoorweg-Maatschappij The Nederlandsche Centraal-Spoorweg-Maatschappij (NCS) was founded on 20 February 1860 in Amsterdam and established in Utrecht from 1876 and was dissolved on 23 May 1934. The Central Railway Utrecht – Amersfoort – Zwolle – Kampen was const ...

. The company was formally merged with the HSM to form the

in 1938, although independent operations had stopped earlier. Nederlandse Spoorwegen Railway companies of the Netherlands Defunct railroads Railway companies established in 1863 Railway companies disestablished in 1938 Organisations based in Utrecht (city) Companies based in Utrecht (province) {{Netherlands-transport-stub Former Dutch railway company