Dutch Rail should be made to pay towards the cost of flight departure delays caused by problems on the trains, KLM chief executive Peter Hartman said in Thursday’s Telegraaf.

The cost of delays, as passengers and crew are held up by problems on the trains, runs into millions of euros, he said. In particular, a spate of recent problems and fire alerts in the Schiphol railway tunnel have led to late arrivals at the airport.
Airlines are responsible for paying passengers compensation of up to €600 each for delays, the Telegraaf points out.
KLM is now looking into the possibility of recovering part of the cost from the NS and Schiphol airport authority which manages the tunnel.
In addition, KLM should not be held responsible for strikes, snow and ice and other airport-related problems, Hartman said. ‘We pay to have these things taken care of,’ he said.

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