ProRail () is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the
metro or
tram), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part of
NS Railinfratrust
The Railinfratrust Company (RIT) is the owner of the rail infrastructure in the Netherlands. ProRail B.V. is the part of RIT that takes care of maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure, of allocating rail capacity, ...
, the Dutch railway infrastructure owner.
It consists of the following infrastructure management organisations:
*''Railinfrabeheer'' (Rail Infrastructure Management, RIB)
*''Railned'' (railway capacity allocation - long-term planning, more than 52 hours before the day of the train service)
*''Railverkeersleiding'' (traffic control - short-term planning, less than 52 hours before the day of the train service)
The rail capacity supplied by ProRail is used by several public transport operators:
*
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 ...
(NS), the passenger train operating company on main lines
* Smaller passenger operators, including
Qbuzz,
Arriva
Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.[Keolis Nederland
Keolis Nederland is a public transport company operating bus and passenger train services in the Netherlands. Originally created as Syntus and owned by Connexxion, Keolis and Nederlandse Spoorwegen, since 2012 Keolis Nederland has been a 100% subs ...]
and
Connexxion/Breng
*
DB Regionalbahn Westfalen, which mainly operates in
Germany
* Cargo operators including
DB Cargo
DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) both ...
,
Rotterdam Rail Feeding, and
Lineas
Lineas the largest private rail freight operator in Europe with headquarters in Belgium and sites in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The Federal Holding and Investment Company (Federale Participatie- en Investeringsmaatschappij ...
* Smaller freight operators, including:
Rail4Chem (now owned by Veolia),
Veolia Cargo,
ERS Railways
ERS Railways (formerly European Rail Shuttle B.V.) is a fully independent railway company, 100% owned by Freightliner Group Ltd., with five offices in four countries across Europe. With a modern fleet of locomotives and over 400 leased conta ...
, Bentheimer Eisenbahn,
HGK,
Portfeeders (part of
ACTS
The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...
) and
SNCF Fret
SNCF Logistics was the division of the SNCF group responsible for freight transportation and logistics.
The division included the activities of: Geodis (and subsidiaries), general land transport and logistics; Fret SNCF the national rail freigh ...
Its Utrecht headquarters is in the former offices of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (known as ''De Inktpot'', "The Inkwell"), the largest brick building in the Netherlands. The building currently features a "UFO" on its facade resulting from an art program in 2000. It was established on 1 January 2003 when three separate organisations responsible for rail infrastructure in the Netherlands were merged.
Funding
Funding for ProRail is provided by a government subsidy, and a fee paid by the railway operators (called ''infraheffing'').
The government subsidy totalled around €2.5 billion from 2014–2017, and the ''infraheffing'' totalled approx. €200 million in 2006, the remaining income was listed as 'other'.
The fee that the public transport operators have to pay for this is lower than the cost, but increasing. In 2003 it was €0.64 per train km and €0.54 to €2.16 for stopping at a station.
Performance oriented maintenance
Railways in the Netherlands are not maintained by ProRail itself. Instead, it is subcontracted to recognised maintenance
contractors
A general contractor, main contractor or prime contractor is responsible for the day-to-day oversight of a construction site, management of vendors and trades, and the communication of information to all involved parties throughout the course of ...
. The Dutch railway network is subdivided into 21 areas. For each area, all of the regular maintenance is contracted as one package, which is won by the contractor that submits the best offer. The contractor receives a fixed sum per month, and is fined in case of failure to meet the required performance. Contractors are incentivised to minimise cost, while ensuring good performance of the assets. This is called prestatiegericht onderhoud (performance oriented maintenance).
As of 2019, the recognised maintenance contractors are:
* ASSET Rail (a
joint venture by
Arcadis
Arcadis NV is a global design, engineering and management consulting company based in the Zuidas, Amsterdam, Netherlands. It currently operates in excess of 350 offices across 40 countries. The company is a member of the Next 150 index.
Arcadi ...
and Dura Vermeer)
*
BAM Infra Rail
* Strukton Rail
*
VolkerRail
See also
*
Transportation in the Netherlands
References
External links
Nederlandse SpoorwegenNetwork statement 2003
(pdf-file, 646 kB)
ProRail
{{Authority control
Railway infrastructure managers
Railway companies of the Netherlands
Rail infrastructure in the Netherlands
Railway companies established in 2003
Dutch companies established in 2003
Organisations based in Utrecht (city)
Rail transport in Utrecht (city)
Companies based in Utrecht (province)