Questions are being raised about what Dutch Rail (NS) has done with a €1.3bn fund to pay for major improvements in its services, Trouw and website nu.nl report on Monday.

The money came from the €1.9bn generated when NS sold its telephony arm Telfort to British Telecom in 2000. The state-owned firm was allowed to keep most of the cash and use it for four different projects.
Some €500m was reserved to install turnstiles at all stations and make sure only people with tickets go on railway platforms. But by the end of 2009, just 26 of the country’s 338 railway stations had turnstiles.
Silence
The NS has declined to say how much money has been spent on this project, nu.nl said.
Some €226m was set aside to fund the development of the public transport smart card (ov-chipkaart) on the trains. ‘Here too it is unclear how much money has been spent,’ nu.nl reported.
According to Trouw, transport ministry documents show only €279m had been spent by 2007 – and that money went on turnstiles and the smart card.
The fund also included €340m for improving the railway network and €272m to boost station quality. Here too the results of the investment are unclear.
Cuts
The Socialist Party has now called for a detailed explanation of what has happened to the money and the interest generated over the unspent cash.
‘In these times of crisis we are looking for billions [worth of cuts] but we have no idea what has been done with more than a billion euros of public money,’ MP Manja Smits told nu.nl.
‘We are demanding transparency about what has been down with public money by companies which are 100% in public hands.’