Public transport company Arriva, part of German state-owned Deutsche Bahn, wants to be the biggest bus and train service provider in the Netherlands, its chief executive has told the Telegraaf.

Anne Hettinga told the paper: ‘We can be the biggest by winning parts of the main rail network in new tenders and running our own trains on the Dutch high speed train routes.’

Hettinga called on the Netherlands to ‘fully liberalise’ its rail networks and so end the NS monopoly on main routes. Regional services have already been opened up to competition.

The new government agreement opens the door to changing the current NS monopoly on main line services. Ministers have also threatened NS with losing its contract to run high speed services to Breda unless performance improves, the Telegraaf said.

Arriva operates regional train and bus routes in several parts of the Netherlands, particularly in the south and north. Hettinga says the company plans to increase its turnover in the Netherlands by 40% by 2021 and increase its fleet by 30%.

A spokesman for the infrastructure ministry said that there would be no talks with Arriva on widening its network until 2020 at least, when NS’s performance assessment will be completed.