Both companies have agreed to halt legal proceedings, annul the contract, and drop the claims made against each other since both NS and Belgian National Railways (SNCB) withdrew their V250 fleets from service last year. AnsaldoBreda and NS say they both want to avoid a long and expensive legal battle.

AnsaldoBreda has therefore agreed to take back the 16 V250s ordered by NS – nine of which have been delivered – and repay the operator €125m. This still leaves NS shouldering an €88m loss on the purchase, which was worth €213m. In its 2013 annual report, NS calculated that the total loss incurred from the collapse of Fyra and the V250 fiasco would reach €247m.

The settlement of the dispute between AnsaldoBreda and NS enables the manufacturer to begin the search for another buyer for the unwanted V250s. NS will receive a sum from AnsaldoBreda for every one of the trains it is able to sell, up to a maximum of €21m.

Now there is a principle agreement between NS and Finmeccanica, the two parties will draw up an operational plan to return the trains to Italy.

NS has stated that the conflict has not been about the "robustness of the design of the train, but in particular about acceptable deadlines for repairs and operations, which did not meet NS' needs, and about the financial consequences".

The agreement to stop legal proceedings and drop mutual claims is only between Finmeccanica and NS, and no agreement has so far been reached with SNCB, which ordered 3 V250s but cancelled its contract last May. This case is still being heard at the Dutch Court of Justice in Utrecht.

The return of the V250 high speed train sets to AnsaldoBreda is not the end of the Fyra catastrophe in the Netherlands. The Dutch Parliament is set to launch a parliamentary investigation, and preparations are already well underway with hearings due to start at the end of the year.