Fyra

• What is Fyra?
• Is it profitable?
• Is it a luxury train?
• What is the added value?

That are questions you could ask when you say Fyra.
The Fyra is an high speed train employed by NS and NS Hispeed. This train rides on HSL South, a high speed line. This section runs between Amsterdam, Schipholñ, Rotterdam (…..and Breda). It is an old locomotive with 7 old, German carriages. In the future they hope to use new material, but at the moment we have to do with the old rubbish. You have to pay more for an old train, that only rides 20 kilometers faster than the normal intercity. There is hardly any time saving.

Fyra runs twice an hour between Amsterdam Main station and …..Breda. This “high” speed train only runs 160 kilometers per hour. This train costs millions of euro’s and is expected to be unprofitable until 2028. For example between Rotterdam and Schiphol you pay 2,10 euro more than the normal intercity fare for 20 minutes gain. The normal intercity doesn’t require the surcharge and this takes 46 minutes instead of 26 minutes. The added value is in my opinion the time saving but is it worth 2,10 euro.

The carriages are similar to the International train between Amsterdam and Brussels and are noisier than the normal intercity. The Fyra isn’t a luxury train, like the ICE International or the Thalys. The time saving is the only asset!

What is the added value? In my opinion the only added value for the Fyra, is when there is a problem on the regular railway, you can make use of the Fyra, which runs on the HSL South, without the surcharge. There were plans to make a connection between Antwerp and Breda, but the Belgium’s do not want to pay for their share. NS Hispeed had already built the connection between Moerdijk and Breda, which is now needless.

Will Fyra ever be a success. We’ll see in the future?!

Connection between NS and Pro Rail

Pro rail is an essential company for NS, because Pro Rail ensures that NS can ride their trains in the Netherlands. NS operates the railway network and Pro Rail is the company that maintains the railway network. Pro Rail also maintains railways in several other countries in Europe, like Belgium, Germany and France. Pro Rail’s head office is situated in Utrecht, same as the Dutch railway operator. 

First task for Pro Rail starts when there is a problem with the railway, like track points failure, signal interference or a accident. They have to solve the problem in a limited time. An other task for Pro rail is to maintain the railway in all the year round. In the autumn (September to November) the railway must be kept free of leaves. In the winter (December to February) the railway and track points kept ice free and in the summer protected from overheating.  There is often disagreement between NS and Pro Rail. When there is a problem, NS blames Pro Rail or Pro Rail blames NS (this doesn’t help much). This problem is caused because of the separation of the two companies in the nineties when NS and Pro Rail were privatized. So you see that dividing a company does not always improve performance.

So Pro Rail is an company that cares for infrastructure and NS for the passengers. The relationship between the two will hopefully improve in the future through better conditions and rules. 

Sprinter

The Sprinter is the new light rail train. This new train replace the old “dog head” trains from 1964. The Sprinter consists of four or six carriages and has a capacity of respectively 386 and 610 places. This management wanted to create more places in this train so decided to leave out the toilets. This modification caused a lot of commotion, because if you needed to go to the toilet you had to get out of the train at the next station and catch a train later again.

Sprinter

To solve this problem, a very smart executive introduced the Travel John. The Travel John is plastic bag containing moisture absorbing substance. When asked where can you use the bag, it was suggested in the drivers compartment (you can imagine he was not very happy with this).

Travel John

The other ‘big’ problem with this train is in the winter. In 2010 75 percent of the new Sprinters were defect through the (drift) snow, that collected in the ventilation ducts and melted, causing electrical short cuts. So the NS left a lot of passengers in the cold. For the coming winter of 2011-2012, NS has taken a lot of precautions and hope that it will not happen again.

I like the sprinter, because it is a new train and still looks smart. There are a lot of seats and standing places. The train is level to the platform, so it is easily for disabled people to get in and out of the train, also it is easy to take a bicycle with you.

OV Chip card

In 2005, the OV chip card was launched in the Netherlands. In the future, this card will replace all the paper (yellow) tickets. This card looks like a credit card (same size).  The OV chip card is an electronic ticket. First of all the OV chip card was first introduced in the three biggest cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht) and later step by step in the rest of Holland.

The connection with NS (Dutch railway operator) is that passengers can be travel with this card by train and all other public transport. At the end of 2012, the OV chip card will completely replace the paper tickets.  Students get a free OV chip card, this card is named ‘student travel product’. They can travel free to school during the week and have 40 percent discount in the weekends. In January 2012, it is required to check-in and out in the free travel period. In my opinion it’s the worst thing you can introduce. Students must always have a minimum limit of 10 euro’s on the card. And if you forget to check-out, you lose the boarding rate of ten euro’s.

On the other hand, this card makes it easier to travel by train. The card is innovating, because commuters don’t have to buy a ticket. They only have to check-in and out, so there’s more time to do something else.
But the introduction caused a few problems, like the protection of the main system and the problematic start up, because it was able to hack the chip in the card.

After all, the card will work better in the future. More people see the positive points of this travel method.

Introduction

Erwin Boelaart

I would like to introduce myself. My name is Erwin Boelaart and I'm seventeen years old and I live in Dordrecht. Dordrecht is situated about 20 kilometres south of Rotterdam.

I attend The Hague University of Applied Sciences and study Commercial Economics. I’m writing this blog for the subject Business Communication.

Logo NS

Three times a week I have to travel from Dordrecht to The Hague and I make use of public transport. I cycle 20 minutes from my home to the main station, if weather permits otherwise I take the bus. Dordrecht has a good connection with The Hague HS by rail. This service is run by the Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).
The NS is the main railway operator in The Netherlands and transports aprox. 1.2 million passengers a day. A couple of years ago unprofitable lines were disposed off and licensed to other operators.   

During these journeys I have experienced the blessings and short comings of this form of transport. Which I would like to share with you in the following blogs.