State-owned railway company NS is planning to increase its activities abroad considerably by moving into Scandinavia and southern Europe, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

The company already runs rail services in England, Germany and the Czech Republic.
NS’s foreign investments are largely paid for by cash earned in the Netherlands, the paper says. NS claims profits earned abroad are also used to finance foreign activities but declined to tell the Volkskrant how much money is involved.
Anton Valk, who head’s NS’s foreign activities, said the unit made a ‘good profit’ last year, which was paid to the NS itself in the form of a dividend.
NS claims the internationalisation of the railways is forcing it to move into foreign markets. ‘The European public transport market is being liberalised, step by step,’ Valk said. ‘That brings with it treats and opportunities for the NS.’
Risks
Rail users lobby group Rover is opposed to the move. ‘NS should not be playing entrepreneur, particularly not if the risk is passed on to Dutch travellers in the form of higher charges,’ Rover chairman Michael van der Vlis told the paper.
The NS made its first move abroad in 2003 when it won a contract to provide trains services in Liverpool, England. Since then it has become involved in other English cities as well as Prague, and parts of Germany.
The foreign activities are carried out by a separate company named Abellio which turned over €600m last year, one third of NS’s Dutch turnover.