Dutch rail (NS) and track operator ProRail are to form a joint steering committee to deal with the problems on the railways once and for all.

Managers from both organisations will take part in the committee, with the CEOs forming a rotating chairmanship, the Volkskrant reports.

The paper bases its claims on documents obtained from ProRail’s works council.

The committee is designed to end the chaos on the railways, which is caused by fundamental differences between the management of the two organisations.

For instance, in winter weather, when points tend to freeze, ProRail’s policy is to reduce the number of points on the railway to cut down delays, while the NS wants points to remain in use so trains can be rerouted.

Demands

A joint steering committee goes some way towards meeting demands from parliament and junior transport minister Wilma Mansveld that the two companies work together more closely.

However, both the NS and ProRail told the Volkskrant the move is not a first step towards reversing the split between the two companies. ‘The NS remains the NS and ProRail remains ProRail,’ a ProRail spokesman told the paper. ‘The steering committee will only deal with areas where company policy shares common ground.’ he said.

‘The NS and ProRail have 7,000 kilometres of common ground,’ Roel Berghuis of rail union FNV Spoor told the paper in a reaction. ‘I am afraid this solution will merely lead to more bureaucracy,’ he said.