Are train tickets needed or will the TripKey work on for inter-Netherlands train trips

TripKey is your ticket.
Don't forget to check in and check out at the gates. Otherwise your trip will cost you EUR 20. There are some stations, among which Den Haag (The Hague) Centraal and Utrecht Centraal, where you can still walk through the gates without checking in or out.

Barriers at Utrecht Centraal are closed. Not every station has barriers though. In that case you need to touch in/out at the validators.

Remember that when changing from railway company A to railway company B, you'll need to touch out at validator A and touch in at validator B. This is mainly an issue in the North, East and South of NL.

By the way, Tripkey is not always the best option.
- Do not use Tripkey for children (4-11 yrs) as Tripkey has no reduced fare option
- Do not use Tripkey for popular destinations or longer trips. A return for instance from Amsterdam to Maastricht using Tripkey will cost 50.60 euros. Via https://www.discoverholland.com/DayTrip/8/Maastricht-cruise it will only cost 22 euros. And there are other offers and day passes that can work out cheaper than Tripkey.

I disagree with the previous post about not using Tripkey for longer distances in the Netherlands. The cruise "Floris" is suggesting is a boat trip to Maastricht--not exactly a number-one destination for American tourists, and certainly not as convenient at the Dutch train system which runs trains hourly to most major destinations. In the past I've bought single tickets or used the OV-Chipkaart for travel. I've found Tripkey the most efficient and cost-effective way to get around the Netherlands for those of us who do not have a Dutch bank account.

You are ofcourse allowed to disagree, hower the example I gave is a train journey from Amsterdam to Maastricht with a cruise ( in Maastricht). You dont have to use the cruise. No one will check whether or not you used that part of the ticket. It is not a cruise from Amsterdam to Maastricht. This deal however is cheaper than a single trip using a Tripkey card.

Especially on longer distances these deals and regular day passes will be cheaper than Tripkey.

Floris (without quotes :-)