spoorwegmaatschappij

A spoorwegmaatschappij, literally meaning "railway company" in Dutch, is a company that provides rail transport services. It may operate passenger trains, freight trains, or both, and may own or lease rolling stock and equipment. In many systems, a railway company does not own the entire rail network; instead, operations are coordinated with an infrastructure manager that controls tracks, signals and stations.

Railway markets vary by country. Some are nationalized and integrated, with a single state-owned operator; others are liberalized and open to multiple operators competing or bidding for passenger franchises. The organisational separation between infrastructure, service operation, and rolling stock ownership is common. Throughout history, spoorwegmaatschappijen evolved from private 19th-century companies to modern, regulated entities; many were merged, privatized, or absorbed into larger groups.

In Dutch usage, the term is generic for an organization that runs rail transport. The Netherlands illustrates a model where ProRail handles rail infrastructure, while Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) is the main passenger operator; freight and other services are performed by additional operators and contractors within a liberalized market.