The NS is 48 trains richer but it was not exactly a gift. The central court of the Netherlands ruled that NS will have to take back 48 buffel trains that were sold to a Romanian transport company in 2014 and 2017. Well, I say take back but the truth is that they never left the Dutch tracks!
These buffel or so-called buffalo trains were sold to the Romanian transport company Ferotrans. They were supposed to come pick them up from the Netherlands by April 2018, latest. But they’re still parked in Nijmegen. So what exactly happened?
Why didn’t Ferotrans pick up the trains?
The whole affair has become more like a “he said-she said” situation where both the companies are blaming each other. Ferotrans claims that the Dutch railways were being a pain in the a*s with their bureaucracy. The Dutch railways are obviously refuting that as they say that they have done everything they can to make sure the trains were transported out of the country.
What happens to the trains now?
ProRail is set to start work on the tracks in Nijmegen in October and will need them to be cleared up. So, if the trains are not removed before October, ProRail will fine NS 1000 euros per train. With this court’s ruling, the ownership of the trains goes back to NS, which means that they are free to do what they want with them. According to NU.nl, they want to remove them and have them demolished. However, it’s still unknown as to where they will be taken. Talk about a long and arduous journey!
What do you make of this? Let us know in the comments below!
Feature Image: Rob Dammers/Flickr
