# Funding to fix Meppel rail bottleneck awaits approval from parliament

> State secretary Annet Bertram visited Meppel station to discuss the rail bottleneck there. The Tweede Kamer debates the infrastructure budget next week and must give the green light.

News · published 2026-10-21 23:46 · https://nlnow.nl/a/money-for-meppel-rail-bottleneck-stays-state-secretary-says/

State secretary (staatssecretaris) Annet Bertram visited Meppel station, where she held talks with administrators from the northern provinces, including deputies from Friesland and the mayors of Meppel and Zwolle. Bertram said the money set aside for the rail problems at Meppel will not go to other road and rail problems, but parliament must still approve it.

Bertram said the aim of her visit was to get the money working quickly. "How will that euro pay off as quickly as possible?" she said. "How do we get this done as quickly as possible?"

"If you look at the ranking in the letter the minister sent, you see that both the Nedersaksenlijn (the rail line between Enschede and Groningen via Emmen) and Meppel score very high," Bertram said.

She added a caveat. "You are only certain once your budget is approved," she said. The Tweede Kamer discusses the budget of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management next week. "Everyone can assume that the minister and I will defend what we have sent to the Kamer from A to Z. But in the end it is the Kamer that has to give the green light."

## Background

- **Tweede Kamer**: The House of Representatives, the lower and more powerful house of the Dutch parliament. Its 150 members are elected directly; it can amend bills and holds the cabinet to account.
- **Nedersaksenlijn**: The Nedersaksenlijn is a proposed railway line in the north of the Netherlands, meant to connect the region to Lower Saxony in Germany. It is one of the rail projects that national and regional authorities consider when deciding which infrastructure investments to prioritise. Its name refers to the German state it is intended to link with, not to a Dutch political party.

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