Dutch national railway company NS should pay compensation to passengers who have to stand because trains are too crowded, according to organisation ConsumentenClaim which specialises in mass claims.

‘We think train passengers should be compensated for at least 50% of the cost of their journey for as long as the problems with crowded trains are not solved,’ director Stef Smit told BNR Radio on Thursday morning.

The organisation accuses the NS of bad management because the problems with crowded trains, which began last September, were avoidable.

Buses

The rail company knew in 2014 there would be a shortage of trains between 2015 and 2017 and did not take adequate steps to solve the problem. It should have ordered new trains earlier to replace the old trains being taken out of service and used buses to provide extra capacity.

The NS did not comment on financial compensation in its reaction, according to news site Nu.nl. ‘We offer a place in our trains, not a seat,’ a spokesman said. ‘But we are doing all we can to give passengers a good journey.’

On Monday, the NS introduced buses on some routes during rush-hour. The company is also changing first class compartments into second class to free up more seats.

There was a record number of complaints about overcrowding in 2015, with most of them coming from passengers in Utrecht, followed by Woerden, Hilversum and Amsterdam Central.