The Italian maker of the Fyra high-speed train on Tuesday lost its appeal for access to three technical reports on the problems with the trains.

AnsaldoBreda wants to see the reports drawn up by Dutch railways NS and Belgian railways NMBS which resulted in the cancellation of the two train companies’ orders for more Fyra trains.

The company was in court in Utrecht in early July to argue for access to the reports and for independent experts to be appointed to assess the technical problems which led to high-speed services between Amsterdam and Brussels being suspended last January.

When the Utrecht court ruled against AnsaldoBreda, the company went to appeal in Amsterdam on gaining access to the reports.

Internal use

That court has now ruled the reports were drawn up for internal use by the NS and NMBS and that a company must have the freedom to request advice in order to make its decisions, the Nos reports.

In addition, such reports could contain company-sensitive information. For these reasons, they do not have to be shared with third parties.

The court also said AnsaldoBreda was negligent in not drawing up its own reports and making them public. This was a company decision since the manufacturer had access to the trains in question.

The NS decision to cancel the trains was not solely based on the reports, the court said. It also took into account the long delivery time and the fact the Fyra no longer had access to the Belgian railway, the Nos reports.

Fyra trains were suspended after snow and ice damaged three trains. The NS and NMBS blame the poor quality of the trains; AnsaldoBreda blames poor maintenance.