# Northern firms and colleges urge The Hague to keep Nedersaksenlijn rail plan

> More than twenty northern business groups and three colleges have written to ministries and MPs ahead of Friday's announcement of which infrastructure projects go ahead.

Politics · published 2026-10-13 13:00 · https://nlnow.nl/a/northern-firms-and-colleges-urge-the-hague-to-keep-nedersaksenlijn-rail-plan/

Noorderpoort, Alfa-college and DC Terra have signed a letter with more than twenty business organisations from the northern Netherlands, calling on the cabinet and the Tweede Kamer (the lower house of parliament) to keep investing in the Nedersaksenlijn and the Zwolle-Meppel rail junction. The letter went to the ministries of Infrastructure and Economic Affairs and to all MPs.

The project is in doubt after Infrastructure minister Vincent Karremans (VVD) said there is too little money at his ministry. He puts maintenance and renewal above new projects. The ministry announces on Friday 16 October which infrastructure projects go ahead.

**What the letter says the line should deliver**

- At least 10,000 extra homes
- At least 15,000 extra jobs

The signatories say investments should be judged on more than cost and passenger numbers. They point to housing, jobs, education and the country's earning power. "The question is not only what a railway costs, but above all what it brings the Netherlands," they write.

Wim Moes, chair of the board of Alfa-college, said almost all the college's locations lie along the future route. He said student numbers will fall in the coming years because of population decline, so good connections help the college teach efficiently. He also noted that the cabinet's Talent Strategy (Talentstrategie) aims for 1.5 per cent economic growth a year.

Melle Mulder, chair of stichting Nedersaksenlijn (the Nedersaksenlijn foundation), assumes the green light the project received last year still stands. "I am not afraid that we will come out of that with a fail," he said.

CDA MP Henk Jumelet said he expects last year's agreements to be honoured. The cabinet first looks at all projects, he said, but it is up to parliament to decide which matter most. That process also covers the Nedersaksenlijn, he said, "but that does not mean it won't go ahead".

## 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.

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