The then Prime Minister Wim Cook tore the fire letter Tineke Netelenbos Minister of Transport called for underhand to award the railway transport on the HSL. He left his bowing to the rest of the Cabinet to grant the concession through a public tender to the highest bidder. A year later, the NS promised such a high fee to be sure to emerge victorious from the bus. Therefore, the railway company was the annual payment to the state almost impossible to recover.
Blue Letter
That was on Monday during interrogation by the Fyra inquiry. The train went into operation ended in December 2012, turned into a fiasco. After forty days the aircraft of the Italian manufacturer AnsaldoBreda had to be removed due to serious defects of the track. The choice of this cheapest model was partly due to the lack of financial space that had kept the train.
Former Secretary-General Ralph Pans of Transport, Public Works confirmed a Netelenbos in May 2000 sent a handwritten letter to Cook to refrain from tendering. In the letter she wrote that preference should be given to a business plan of the NS, Schiphol and KLM for passenger services on HSL to Belgium.
Former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Transport (1998 to 2002) Ralph Pans at the parliamentary inquiry committee Fyra.
HH
In these so-called Blue Letter, a method to matters of the greatest importance personal attention, gave Netelenbos (PvdA ) to assume responsibility for the consequences of a public tender, according Pans. When asked by Commissioner Ton Elias or the minister thereby threatened to resign, the former top official replied in the negative. “She was not properly formulated as a portfolio issue, but as a request for the case to weigh very heavily.”
‘Legally fatal
A few days later, expressed during a meeting with Netelenbos, Cook gave the letter not to would have had. Secretary-General Ad Geelhoed’s Office had advised him that the existence of the letter at a later stage “legal lethal” could be. Cook then tore the letter in front of Netelenbos.
The Transport Minister was under redecoration within the then Cabinet utterly alone with her plea for direct award to the so-called Orange Combination. She found herself facing particularly Finance Minister Gerrit Zalm (VVD), which was burned to maximize the concession fee for the treasury. The Ministry of Economic Affairs headed by Annemarie Jorritsma (VVD) was in favor of maximum market forces and would therefore have a preference for an open tender. Minister Laurens Jan Brinkhorst (D66) of Agriculture was particularly concerned about the Dutch’s image in Brussels.
wrote The EU guidelines, however, no open tender, declared Pans facing the committee. “Nowhere was that it was a hard requirement. It was written compelling in any directive.
Amazingly high bid
NS subsidiary High Speed Alliance (HSA) won the tender in 2001, with the offer to pay € 178 million annually to the state as compensation for the use of the HSL. The amount of that sum raised the necessary amazement at the ministry, confirmed Pans. “We found that a lot of money compared to what we thought would be a reasonable price.” However, he rejected the suggestion that the offer should be rejected as unrealistic.
The only two competing bids for the concession amounted to € respectively 61 million and € 100 million. The previously Netelenbos advocated direct award NS Orange Combination would Schiphol and KLM do not pay more than € 100 a year.
The sharp increase in the NS bid was ordered by the Supervisory Board, under the guidance of Jan Timmer, declared Martin Spaargaren who was the head of the 2001 bid team at the rail company. This HSA was saddled with a very challenging business case. Former Philips CEO Timmer heard Wednesday.
Unrealistic expectation
De parliamentary commission of inquiry into the debacle with the Fyra opened last Monday. The next four weeks forty key players will be heard as a witness in public. Since early 2014 have already heard eighty players behind closed doors, requested information and conducted research file.
To date, nearly € 11 billion paid for the construction, maintenance and repair of the HST, but despite the proposed train is still not over, says committee chairman Madeleine Toorenburg. But that does not mean that the railway line was a waste of money, explained Arriën Kruyt, chairman of travelers association Rover. Although today’s alternative to Fyra, the Intercity Direct, runs significantly slower than the former Benelux train, the number of passengers is growing steadily, emphasized Kruyt. According to him, from the outset, “naive” and “unrealistic” been wanting to recoup the construction of the infrastructure.
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