Rail freight has suddenly become one of the topics of the day in the Netherlands. The environmental and transport inspectorate ILT reports that it has seen a skyrocketing number of leakages in 2025. National media feature the news on their front pages and commenters express dismay, but is it really a concern? And is there really an explosion of incidents?
ILT reports that the number of identified hazardous material leakages in Dutch rail freight has grown spectacularly in the past two years. In 2025, it registered over 400 such incidents, up from just 26 in 2023: an increase of over 1400%. RailFreight.com confirmed with ILT that these 400 incidents were cases of hazardous materials being found on the outer surface of wagons, and not just warning reports or condensation water.
The inspectorate does not provide a single explanation for the development, but says that more regular checks could have contributed to it. ILT has doubled its inspection capacity in recent years.
Most often, ILT finds that broken components, such as valves, cause the leaks. Fuels and oil, alcohols and other hazardous materials were most often leaked. Ethers and plastic resources did not show a notable increase in leakage incidents.
New inspection strategy expected to reduce incidents
ILT says that it intends to do more inspections during loading and unloading procedures in terminals. That should also decrease the number of leakages, the inspectorate says. DB Cargo Netherlands is happy with that plan, spokesperson Jelle Rebbers tells our colleagues at SpoorPro. “It will prevent irregularities being discovered on public infrastructure […] and that rail traffic needs to be stopped.” By taking up that position, DB Cargo represents a part of the rail freight industry that is supportive of ILT’s approach.
“By sharing targeted knowledge with all parties in the chain about the cause of the irregularity, we expect to achieve a substantial reduction in the number of irregularities”, Rebbers adds. “What would help us here is if the ILT were willing to share information about the nature of the leak more quickly with the sector. The confidentiality of this data, which in some cases is sensitive competition-wise, seems to be hindering the ILT in this regard. We are currently discussing this with the inspectorate.”
By contrast, Hans-Willem Vroon, head of the rail freight association RailGood, is not pleased with the ILT report. Vroon points out that ILT is very strict in its checks for leakages, so it also finds them more often. “Our wagon inspectors and train drivers sometimes also discover drop leakages. That is then taken care of very professionally.” In other words: not a reason for concern.
The RailGood head also questions the intensity of the Dutch ‘fixation’ on leakages compared to neighbouring countries. Other European countries do not nearly consider them as important as the Netherlands, says Vroon.
A similar sentiment was shared with RailFreight.com by Dutch logistics company Schavemaker in 2024: “National newspapers report very negatively on rail freight. This is often because there is a lack of expertise, or they build their entire reporting on a single term that stands out. For example, there are the notorious ‘poison trains’ (Dutch: giftreinen) with dangerous chemicals”, the company said.
“They forget that safety measures for rail are much better than those for road vehicles with dangerous freight, where the driver just leaves and there is no control during the trip. Rail transport is put in an unjustified negative spotlight.”
Reverse modal shift
The Netherlands’ focus on these leakages also has a negative impact on the Dutch rail freight industry. “Last June, there were strong complaints from Slovakia about the Dutch approach from wagon owners and industry”, the RailGood head states. “At the time, they were already threatening to avoid the Netherlands and to transport more by road.”
Moreover, rail operators cannot do much to resolve the problem, according to RailGood. The leakage problem often arises during loading and unloading, Vroon explains, and sometimes because there is a defect in the wagon and items have not been properly tightened or closed. “Parties that tend to cause this problem must be addressed by the competent authority and dealt with within the legal framework. This also applies elsewhere in Europe.”
ILT shared with RailFreight.com that 45% of the leakage cases in 2025 were found on foreign-origin trains (import) and 55% on trains handled in the Netherlands (export). Given the over 1400% increase in reported leakages since 2023, it logically follows that this surge cannot be attributed solely to careless operations during loading, unloading, or maintenance in the Netherlands. If domestic operations were the primary cause, we would expect a much higher share of leakages on export trains, which are handled within the country. Instead, the data suggests that the increase is likely due to another reason, such as a Europe-wide security issue or more frequent inspections and incident reporting in the Netherlands.
A common European approach
Both RailGood and DB Cargo advocate for a common European approach to the issue. RailGood believes that the Netherlands is disproportionately concerned about these “drop leakages”. DB Cargo, similarly, sees a divergence in approaches to the issue within Europe. The Netherlands can combat these incidents, but if European countries don’t follow suit, then the Dutch approach will only help for domestically formed trains.
For RailGood, the demand for checks also extends to other modes of transport, such as the road sector and inland waterways. “How often are there controls on tank trucks? How about venting gases on barges?”, the association rhetorically wonders.