Nederlandse Spoorwegen (Dutch Railways), or NS, is the principal passenger railway operating company in the Netherlands. Its trains operate over the tracks of the Dutch national rail infrastructure company ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003.
Every day, over one million (population of 16 million) people travel by train, in The Netherlands.
The NS was founded in 1938 when the two largest Dutch railway companies, the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) and the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS), formally merged. These two companies, however, had been intensively cooperating as early as 1917. There were both economic and ideologic reasons for the cooperation.
The old (in the foreground) and new (in the background) corporate headquarters of the NS.
Due to the First World War the economic situation had declined in the Netherlands, and the railway companies started to lose money. The railway companies were considered of great importance and thus letting them slip into bankrupty was not an option. The companies thus started an intensive cooperation in which their operational activities were completely integrated, even though the companies themselves remain independent entities. To financially support the companies, shares were bought by the Dutch government. In 1938 the government merged the HSM and SS into the current company, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The government bought the remaining shares, but never nationalized the company. Therefore NS remained (and still is) a private company with the Dutch government as sole shareholder.
Every day, over one million (population of 16 million) people travel by train, in The Netherlands.
The NS was founded in 1938 when the two largest Dutch railway companies, the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HSM) and the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen (SS), formally merged. These two companies, however, had been intensively cooperating as early as 1917. There were both economic and ideologic reasons for the cooperation.
The old (in the foreground) and new (in the background) corporate headquarters of the NS.
Due to the First World War the economic situation had declined in the Netherlands, and the railway companies started to lose money. The railway companies were considered of great importance and thus letting them slip into bankrupty was not an option. The companies thus started an intensive cooperation in which their operational activities were completely integrated, even though the companies themselves remain independent entities. To financially support the companies, shares were bought by the Dutch government. In 1938 the government merged the HSM and SS into the current company, the Nederlandse Spoorwegen. The government bought the remaining shares, but never nationalized the company. Therefore NS remained (and still is) a private company with the Dutch government as sole shareholder.
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