Solving the financial problems of the high-speed railway line will cost €1bn and not the €390m originally quoted by infrastructure minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen, NRC claims on Tuesday.

The paper says the minister has used a combination of new money and accounting tricks to end the financial problems which have beset the high speed network.
Last Friday the minister outlined a rescue plan based on allowing Dutch Rail (NS) intercity trains to use the high-speed line from 2015. This will cost €390m, the minister said, which is considerably below the €2.4bn that bankruptcy would have cost the state.

Extra money

However, in the briefing to parliament ahead of a debate on her ministry’s budget, Schultz van Haegen admitted the high-speed line will also receive €200m from the finance ministry.
Furthermore, she is using a book-keeping trick by writing €400m of future profit into this budget period, the paper said.
Christian Democrat and D66 MPs accused the minister of painting too rosy a picture of the future facing the high speed train system. They have called for a formal investigation into the minister’s costings.