A majority of MPs have ordered transport minister Camiel Eurlings back to the drawing board after a parliamentary report slammed his plans to speed up train services in some parts of the country.

The report made ‘mincemeat’ of the proposals, according to Liberal MP Paul de Krom. The AD quoted the report as saying that some of Eurlings ideas to make trains run faster are a waste of money, while others have not been costed or do not make clear if they will achieve their goal.
In addition, the report says there has been no research into whether the infrastructure can cope with the increased speeds or what the consequences would be for maintenance and safety.
Both Labour and the Liberals question whether more speed is necessary. People would prefer to have more trains running than that they travel faster, Labour’s Diederik Samsom told news agency ANP.
Meanwhile, Eurlings told parliament on Tuesday that the Betuwe freight-only line, built at a cost of €4.7bn and beset with problems since its opening nine months ago, is now running at maximum capacity. However the number of trains is still limited because safety trials are still being carried out.