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Sustainable accessibility of the Netherlands

'Together we'll make the Netherlands accessible. For everyone.' That's our mission. We're working hard on this together every day. Our strategy is the foundation for this. We want to become financially healthy and ready for the future, and continue to provide a world-class operation. We're ambitious: by 2025, we want to be transporting 1.4 million travellers per day to their work, educational institution or friends.

A high-speed look at strategy

We determine which improvements we will implement for travellers on the basis of our strategy and the developments taking place around us. Currently, we have three main goals: becoming financially healthy, being ready for the future, and realising a world-class operation.

Becoming financially healthy

The coronavirus pandemic came with a drop in traveller numbers, resulting in significant financial losses. It will take us time over the coming years to plug that gap. That's why we're fully committing to smart ways of attracting travellers. For example, we're looking at how we can spread traveller distribution more effectively over the day. We are also responding to the needs of travellers for greater flexibility with season tickets such as NS GO and NS Voordeel. And we're changing too. NS needs to become a financially healthy, agile organisation. That's why we're focusing on cost savings and working towards sustainable cultural and behavioural change.

Ready for the future

The future demands that we get started now on improving our timetable. An example is the introduction of the new Intercity Nieuwe Generatie (ICNG) train or the Airport Sprinter between Amsterdam and Hoofddorp. Beyond our borders, we want to establish faster and more frequent rail connections with European capital cities, and add new destinations. Our aim is to make the train first choice for distances of up to 700 km.

We're working on creating the best mobility app  and expanding our offerings with new and improved OV-fietsen, bicycle parking and P+R locations. In addition, we will ensure that our stations are lively, safe and meaningful places in which to spend time and travel. In this, we will take a sustainable, joint approach.

Our enterprise will be fossil fuel-free, circular and green. Our trains run completely on wind power and are therefore the most sustainable means of transport for medium-long distance travel. And we want to do more than that: we are continuing to develop in order to further increase our societal impact.

NS is made up of 20,000 colleagues. We aim to be an even more attractive employer for everyone who currently works at NS, and for our future employees. 

World-class operation

In order to achieve our ambitions, we need to be a world-class operation. We are doing this by deploying our stations, trains and service and maintenance workshops as effectively as possible, and ensuring that we also work in the smartest way possible. 

In the first instance, we are doing this together with all of our colleagues on the trains and at the stations. We are also making use of technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence. For example, we are investigating whether we can travel even more punctually, enabling us to deploy more trains. We will use our trains more intensively, for example by means of 'real-time monitoring'. 

How we realise our strategy

Station as hub

Many stations are now the vibrant heart of the city and have conquered the hearts and minds of residents and travellers alike. They function as hotspots that accessibly connect a variety of forms of transport with each other, and as places to live, work, buy things or just have a bite to eat. Always clean, in good condition and safe, thanks in part to the efforts of more than 4,500 NS employees who work at and around the station every day.

Flexible and versatile travel

NS invests in all forms of transport that complement train travel, because hardly anyone travels only by train. Your trip starts with the NS app, which makes it easy for you to plan your complete journey by public transport. That means train, OV-fiets or shared car. We also provide travellers with the best possible assistance during their journey, 24 hours a day and seven days a week, as delivered by our staff and our digital services.

People-oriented and data-driven

Making the Netherlands sustainably accessible for everyone demands a considerable performance from the NS organisation and its employees. We are agile and innovative, sustainable and financially healthy. While our organisation is increasingly data-driven, we continue to take a people-oriented approach.

Cooperation with our partners

Our ambition is to maintain the sustainable accessibility of the Netherlands for everyone. In order to achieve this aim, we have partnerships with a range of organisations, government authorities and companies. It is essential for us to cooperate effectively and to be clear about what we need from one another.