ProRail wants to ban escalators at stations | Inland

That is what Ans Rietstra, director of ProRail, says when presenting the annual figures for 2021. ,,We now use as much energy as a medium-sized city and the gas consumption is equivalent to a village of 8,000 households. With the enormous price increases for fossil fuels due to the war in Ukraine in combination with the climate crisis, the pressure is also increasing for us to use energy efficiently.”

“For ProRail, this means that it must not only focus on solar panels on the roofs of stations, but also increasingly on reducing energy consumption,” says Rietstra. “Switching off escalators, which is a luxury product after all, can therefore yield a lot of profit. We want to be energy neutral by 2030, which means that measures must be taken.”

ProRail made a loss of 86 million euros in 2021, with a turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros. “Of course not good, but I am not dissatisfied because we also paid a lump sum of 85 million euros to contractors to get rid of long-term maintenance contracts. Instead of 10 years, Europe was only allowed to take five years. Ultimately, the gigantic buy-out sum is more beneficial for the rail manager than respecting the old agreement,” says financial director Mirjam van Velthuizen-Lormans. “We are simply dealing with fewer and fewer breakdowns and defects, which requires new contracts for daily track maintenance. Not with a fixed amount, but now via the performance-oriented method and in the long run we will benefit from tens of millions of euros.”

However, the railway manager expects to face a difficult period due to the war in Ukraine, which, in addition to the existing personnel shortage, will also confront the construction industry with material shortages and price increases. “Nothing is certain anymore and that is why we even decided this week to cancel the tender procedure for the electrification of the Maaslijn”, says CEO John Voppen of ProRail. “That is a direct consequence of the war, because copper and steel are becoming more and more expensive as a result, and the supply of materials is also being jeopardized due to the situation there. But postponement is not an adjustment, the project remains a top priority for us,” says Voppen.

As with so many companies, the staff shortage is also a headache for ProRail. “We need 1,200 extra people to keep the Netherlands accessible and to contribute to mobility, housing and climate objectives,” says Voppen. “Where do you get your staff from? In that respect, we are also thinking of ‘sharing’ people with, for example, Rijkswaterstaat, which is facing the same problem and fishing in the same pond. We are also starting an MBO railway training, which should in the long run ensure the recruitment of new staff.”

Finally, Van Velthuizen says that ProRail has signed the CSS ERTMS contract. “With this we are taking an important step towards digital train security and towards European cooperation on the railways. It is one of the most important decisions taken in 2021 and which involves a huge investment of 400 million euros. I hope it stays that way, because it has been known from the past – also from other sectors – that there is a risk that budgets ‘get out of hand’. This is all uncertain, especially with the unforeseen consequences of the war, but we just have to connect and participate…”

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