More than 600 NS workers are worried their jobs may be on the line if plans to liberalise international train routes go ahead, NS works council COR has said in a letter to junior transport minister Vivianne Heijenen.

Heijnen announced the move at the beginning of the month in a document in which she set out the conditions for opening up the railway network to companies other than NS from 2025.

The plans would mean international routes to Berlin, Frankfurt, London and Paris would be open to competition, endangering jobs in the international branch of the operator.

COR, which represents 20,000 NS workers said the move would not ‘improve the quality of the services’ and that international travellers ‘would no longer be able to count on the reliability and ease of the journeys’, NOS quoted the letter as saying.

National train services would suffer as well if the plans go ahead, COR said. Maintenance, customer service and travel information would also be left to third parties, leading to a loss of quality and reliability, it said.

‘If this becomes a reality, we think this is the beginning of the end for NS, and that is of great concern,’ the works council said.