News
New wheelchair-accessible stations, news about NS Travel Assistance, or handy new functionalities in the NS App: sometimes we have some news we'd like to share with you. This page presents all of the important news specifically for travellers with a disability.
Is the elevator working at my station?
25 July 2022
Travellers who rely on the elevator want to know whether it is working properly.
Elevators that are out of service for more than 1 week are now mentioned in the journey planner on ns.nl or in the NS app. At the moment, this information is updated weekly, which may mean that the overview is not 100% complete.
Here's how to find the info:
- Plan your journey in the Journey planner
- Click on the station name
- Click on facilities/station information
- If the elevator is unavailable, you will see 'Elevator temporarily out of service' (see image).
What can you do if the elevator is out of service?
Please call NS Customer Service. NS Customer Service will then work with you to find the best solution. If NS Customer Service decides that taking a Taxi is your best option, you will not have to pay for it.
NS Customer Service more accessible for the deaf and hard of hearing
22 December 2021
.NS is working hard to ensure that everyone can experience an accessible train journey. NS also wants to improve services and information for people with a hearing impairment. At the end of 2020, NS commissioned MarketRespons to conduct a survey among people with a hearing impairment, to find out how they experienced their contact with NS Customer Service*. Naturally, NS also wanted to know how they could improve this contact for people with hearing disabilities. NS is pleased to report that more than 250 people participated in the survey.
*NS Customer Service means the department that handles questions, suggestions and complaints via Twitter, Chat, Facebook or by phone.
A large proportion of survey participants were satisfied with the options that are already available for getting in touch with NS Customer Service. The survey also revealed a number of desired improvements. Participants indicated that their disabilities were not always taken into account and that customer consultants often spoke too quickly or not clearly enough. Contact via Twitter or Chat worked well, for many participants, but this was not always the case for older people. Hearing impaired respondents indicated that the option of a (tele)interpreter would have been helpful in some cases. In general, the more complicated the question or problem, the more important it is that the form of contact matches the wishes of a client with a hearing impairment.
What will NS do with the results?
Together with a working group with representatives of the various interest groups for people with a hearing impairment, we have worked out the following improvements.
- NS has made a short and clear tutorial for all NS customer service staff with key pointers when communicating with customers with a hearing impairment.
- NS customer service is now also easily accessible via Klik for Teletolk. Here's.how it works
- If, despite all these options, communication remains an issue, you can now also send a contact form to NS Customer Service. Click here for more information.
NS hopes that these changes will make their customer service just a little bit more accessible for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Behind the scenes
1 September 2021
Joost Nagtzaam, project leader of the NS accessibility programme, learns something new every day. "You think you have a basic idea of the issues that people with a disability encounter on a daily basis, but when you start looking into it, this idea often turns out to be wrong."
For the full article, check out SPOOR.
Accessibility at NS in doof.nl
2 April 2021
.Joost Nagtzaam, NS Accessibility Project Manager, in an interview with Doof.nl
{strong}'We also want to remove as many barriers as possible for passengers with hearing impairments'.{/strong}
{br} Interested in reading the whole story? Click on the link to go to the interview.