Experiences and inspiration while you travel

NS podcasts with short stories to listen to aboard the train! In 2016, ‘Luisterruit’ by designer Manon van Hoeckel won the NS Design Challenge. Luisterruit is a series of intimate audio tours that turn your train trip into a personal journey. In each episode of Luisterruit, your personal travel guide Thijs leads you along interviews and reports, so that you can experience your train journey with new eyes and ears. A cloud enthusiast teaches you how to predict the weather, a flirting coach tells you all the secrets of the trade, and a lucid dreaming expert explains how you can take a journey inside your own brain.

NS podcasts live from the train! 

‘Heen en Weer’ is a podcast about train travellers, broadcast live from the train. Travel along inside the heads of the passengers you come across every day. Be moved by the conductor's tragic love life. Listen to the remarkable story of the psychologist who you only know as the man who asks people to be quiet in the silence compartment. And dream along with the girl across from you; the girl who transformed the entire compartment into one big make-up studio. With courage, empathy, and comic clumsiness, Daniel Disselkoen speaks to a typical train passenger every week. Listen along with ‘Heen en Weer’.

Rail quiz aboard the train 

Travellers' smartphones give them a subtle challenge and encourage them to interact with their fellow passnegers - and to explore the route they travel along. The quiz playfully tests travellers' knowledge of the location they're passing through at the moment, and challenges their skill and judgement. The entire compartment plays the game in real-time, in either single-player and group player mode. The SpoorWIJS quiz game was designed by Waarmakers.

If you would like to make the most meaninful use of the time you travel by train, you can choose to occasionally switch off the automatic pilot. That is not only good for your mental and physical health, but also contributes to better performance on the work floor. Several studies have shown that mindfulness exercises can improve people's problem-solving abilities and alertness. People who practice mindfulness over the course of a certain period also appear to be more effective at dealing with stress and negative emotions. With MindfulNS, we want to make the added value of mindfulness accessible to our passengers. Put your commute to good use! MindfulNS was designed by Jan Pieter Kaptein.

Who doesn't remember the classic game Snake on the Nokia 3210? NS Lab has re-developed Snake and dressed it in a new railway uniform. Select your favourite train, accept the challenge, and beat your best score!