The Netherlands Wants to Turn Old Railroad Cars Into Mobile Hospitals for Soldiers

The Dutch Ministry of Defense is negotiating with the NS railroad operator to purchase decommissioned railcars that can be converted to evacuate wounded soldiers.

NOS reported on this.

The potential sale of approximately 24 old railcars that can be adapted for medical needs is currently being discussed.

If the project is approved, the first mobile hospitals may appear as early as 2026.

The Dutch Ministry of Defense notes that significant progress has been made in the negotiations, and the number of railcars may be increased.

NS, the railroad operator, clarified that these are cars that will be replaced with new ones and were previously intended, for example, for sale abroad.

According to Brigadier General Henny Bowman, who oversees logistics expansion at the Dutch Ministry of Defense, this is one of many decisions needed to ensure the military can once again operate on a large scale, as reported by the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

As part of this effort, last week the Dutch Defense Ministry announced an agreement with KLM. Now, its pilots, who previously served in the army, can be used as reservists to fly combat aircraft, including F-35 fighter jets.

In this way, these pilots will be able to maintain their skills as military pilots in addition to their work for the airline to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities if necessary.

In late June, Oshkosh Defense and the Dutch Ministry of Defense signed an agreement to purchase 150 DXPV Kaaiman armored vehicles.

These are American JLTV armored vehicles, which have been specially adapted to meet the requirements of the Dutch Marines.

The selection of these armored vehicles was announced in April 2025, but the final terms of the purchase agreement took several more months to finalize.