NS

Last updated: October 22, 2025

Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) is the state railway company of the Netherlands and operates the majority of passenger traffic on the Dutch rail network.

Summary

NS accepts FIP Coupons and FIP 50 Tickets.
Reservations are generally not required.
Supplement required for Eurocity Direct (ECD) and partly for Intercity Direct (ICD).
For FIP Coupons, a gate-pass coupon is required for access through station gates.

Validity of FIP Tickets

FIP Coupons: ✅FIP Coupons for Relatives: ✅FIP 50 Tickets: ✅

FIP Coupons and FIP 50 Tickets are valid on NS services. For cross-border journeys, either a continuous FIP 50 ticket or FIP Coupons for both countries are required.

Train Categories and Reservations

Within the Netherlands, reservations are not required on NS and are often not possible. For cross-border ICE and IC trains to Germany, reservations are possible and, for example, mandatory in summer 2025 (only for cross-border journeys).

Supplements must be paid for Eurocity Direct and partly for Intercity Direct trains.

Intercity-Express (ICE) ⚠️

Description:High-speed trains of Deutsche Bahn, operated by NS in the Netherlands. They run between Amsterdam and Germany (Cologne / Frankfurt am Main), but can also be used within the Netherlands between Amsterdam, Utrecht, and Arnhem with FIP Coupons without a supplement. However, a supplement is required with FIP 50 Tickets.Reservation possible: yesReservation required: ⚠️ no (cross-border during high season: yes)Supplement: ⚠️When using FIP 50 Tickets for domestic travel within the Netherlands, an ICE supplementof 3€ per journey must be paid. No supplement is required with FIP Coupons.The supplement can be purchased online, in the NS app, or at ticket machines/counters. On site, the supplement can be loaded onto an OV-chipkaart. Without an OV-chipkaart, an additional fee of 1.50€ is charged for a single-use ticket.

Eurocity Direct (ECD) ⚠️

Description:International, supplement-required train between Lelystad, Amsterdam, and Brussels, stopping at Almere, Schiphol, Rotterdam, and Antwerp.More informationReservation possible: noReservation required: noSupplement: ⚠️Between Rotterdam and Schiphol, a supplementof 3€ must be paid for both FIP 50 Tickets and FIP Coupons. This can be purchased online, in the NS app, or at ticket machines/counters. The supplement can be loaded onto an OV-chipkaart. Without an OV-chipkaart, an additional fee of 1.50€ is charged for a single-use ticket.Holders of an OV-chipkaart can buy a discounted supplement for 1.80€ at the supplement counter in the station during off-peak times.With FIP 50 Tickets, prices may vary by train category.

Eurocity (EC)

Description:International train between Rotterdam and Brussels with several intermediate stops.More informationReservation possible: noReservation required: no

Intercity Direct (ICD) ⚠️

Description:Partly supplement-required fast train between Lelystad or Amersfoort, Amsterdam Zuid, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam Centraal, and Breda.More informationReservation possible: noReservation required: noSupplement: ⚠️When using FIP 50 Tickets between Rotterdam and Schiphol, a supplementof 3€ must be paid. No supplement is required with FIP Coupons.This can be purchased online, in the NS app, or at ticket machines/counters. The supplement can be loaded onto an OV-chipkaart. Without an OV-chipkaart, an additional fee of 1.50€ is charged for a single-use ticket.Holders of an OV-chipkaart can buy a discounted supplement for 1.80€ at the supplement counter in the station during off-peak times.With FIP 50 Tickets, prices may vary by train category.

Intercity (IC) ⚠️

Description:Unlike in other countries, these are not true long-distance trains, but rather fast regional trains with few stops. An exception is the IC Amsterdam - Berlin, which is a true cross-border IC with stops only at major hubs.Reservation possible: only on the IC Amsterdam - BerlinReservation required: no (cross-border during high season: yes)Supplement: ⚠️From October 18, 2025, the IC line Amsterdam – Berlin will gradually be converted to ICE 3neo trains. When using FIP 50 Tickets for domestic travel within the Netherlands, an ICE supplementof 3€ per journey must be paid. No supplement is required when using FIP Coupons.The supplement can be purchased online, in the NS app, or on site at ticket machines or counters. On site, the supplement can be loaded onto an OV-chipkaart. Without an OV-chipkaart, an additional fee of 1.50€ is charged for a single-use ticket.

Sneltrein (RE) ℹ️

Description:Regional trains with more stops than Intercity, but still only at important stations.

ℹ️ Trains of the Sneltrein / Regional-Express RE category, including the connections Venlo - Hamm (Germany), Maastricht - Aachen (Germany), and Arnhem - Düsseldorf (Germany), as well as other RE connections, are not operated by NS and cannot be used with FIP.Reservation possible: noReservation required: no

Sprinter

Description:Regional trains for short connections, stopping at every station along the route.Reservation possible: noReservation required: no

Ticket and Reservation Purchase

Online

Reservations

The reservation price is calculated per journey. This means that for connections with transfers, you only need to pay once for multiple trains.

Seat reservations can be purchased via the Deutsche Bahn website. To do so, select the “Book seat only” option in the search.

To Booking Website Additional Information

FIP 50 Tickets

Deutsche Bahn employees can purchase FIP 50 Tickets online for journeys from Germany to neighboring countries. These tickets are available in the DB Reisemarkt > Bahnangebote > Ausland > FIP-Angebot. The FIP 50 ticket is only valid for the foreign section of the route. This is especially important for DB employees, as FIP 50 Tickets are not valid in your own home country. Therefore, an additional ticket is required for the domestic section within Germany up to the border point.

Booking is only possible via the link in the DB Reisemarkt. Discounts do not need to be selected; they are applied automatically.

FIP 50 Tickets can be purchased for the following countries:

Poland
Austria
Italyonly Brenner route with Austria and ECE Frankfurt - Milan
Czech Republic
Switzerland
Luxembourg
Denmark
Netherlands
Belgium
France

Reservations

The reservation price is calculated per journey. This means that for connections with transfers, you only need to pay once for multiple trains.

Seat reservations can be purchased via the Deutsche Bahn website. To do so, select the “Book seat only” option in the search.

Additional Information

FIP 50 Tickets

Online FIP 50 Tickets for journeys within Germany and neighboring countries can be booked via Deutsche Bahn. The tickets must include at least one section within Germany. The FIP 50 ticket is issued for the entire route. The ticket is not valid in the country where the FIP Card was issued; an additional ticket is required there.

Booking is only possible via the link. Discounts do not need to be selected—they are applied automatically.

FIP 50 Tickets can be purchased for the following countries, as long as a section in Germany is included:

Austria
Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
France
Germany
Italyonly Brenner route with Austria and ECE Frankfurt - Milan
Luxembourg
Netherlands
Poland
Switzerland

Reservations

The reservation price is charged per journey. For connections with transfers, you only pay once for multiple trains.

Seat reservations can be purchased via the Deutsche Bahn website. To do so, select the “Seat reservation only” option in the search.

To Booking Website Additional Information

On-Site

FIP 50 Tickets

FIP 50 Tickets can only be purchased at full-service (light) stations with ticket counters. As of December 2023, these are:

Amsterdam Centraal
Amsterdam Sloterdijk
Amsterdam Zuid
Arnhem Centraal
Breda
Den Haag Centraal
Eindhoven Centraal
Enschede
Haarlem
Leeuwarden
Leiden Centraal
Maastricht
Rotterdam Centraal
Schiphol Airport
Utrecht Centraal
Zaandam
Zwolle

Reservations

Since reservations for trains cannot be purchased within the Netherlands, NS only sells international reservations at full-service (light) stations.

Additional Information

Deutsche Bahn ticket offices are called DB Reisezentrum and are located in many larger stations throughout Germany.

FIP 50 Tickets

At DB ticket offices, FIP 50 Tickets can be purchased for journeys within Germany and to many European countries.

It is also possible to issue FIP 50 Tickets where only the section outside Germany is charged, and an additional ticket is required for the German section. This is especially important for DB employees, as FIP 50 Tickets are not valid in their home country.

Reservations

The reservation price is calculated per journey. This means that for connections with transfers, you only need to pay once for multiple trains.

Reservations can be made not only for Germany but also for a large number of trains throughout Europe.

Additional Information

On the Train

FIP 50 Tickets cannot be purchased on the train. ¹

Discounts

No discounts are known.

Special Tariff Conditions

Ticket Barriers at Stations

With an FIP coupon, you will receive an NS access coupon with a barcode to open the station gates.This is not a ticket, but an access pass, valid for:

Up to 8 separate days within a 3-month period.
Each day (from 00:00 to 23:59):
- Up to 6 entries/exits at the same station.
- Up to 12 passages in total per day.

If needed, a new access coupon can be requested at the NS ticket office.

Recommendations

Personal Tip

NS impresses with a dense schedule and good connections. Delays and cancellations do occur, but due to the high frequency, they are often not too problematic. Nevertheless, you should not plan with tight connections, as trains rarely wait for each other. The 1st class in NS trains is often not much more comfortable than 2nd class.

Sources

Rail Delivery Group ↩︎