Our strategy

Together, we are making the Netherlands accessible in a sustainable manner – for everyone. This is NS's mission, which will continue to guide our strategy in the coming years. Every day, we provide a sustainable travel option for large numbers of people. With more than 1 million train journeys every day, we enable many people to take part in society. Making a positive contribution to the Netherlands. We connect busy and less busy parts of the Netherlands, and the Netherlands with European cities. By doing so, we fulfil a vital role in society and help to bring people together, ensure equal opportunities and a viable future for the world.

Opportunities and challenges

We face big challenges, but also see plenty of opportunities to fulfil our mission. The Netherlands has an increasing number of residents who like to meet up and go out. We travel more and more frequently, leading to greater crowding and congestion in and between cities. At the same time, many new homes will be built in the coming years. These homes also need to be easily accessible despite limited available space. In addition, sustainability is becoming more and more important. Both for passengers and employers, who need to encourage sustainable mobility. And for the Netherlands as a whole. In this changing world, NS has an unrivalled ability to connect the Netherlands: the train is space-efficient, accessible and sustainable. Even decades from now, trains will still play a major role and we believe that rail transport has potential to grow.

And yet there are also obstacles to growth. First, travel patterns have changed for good since the pandemic. Passenger numbers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays have fallen from previous levels, while rush hour is relatively busier on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This makes the challenge of optimising use of train and rail capacity all the greater.

Another major concern is that our employees face socially unsafe situations on trains and at stations. Finally, our financial position is under pressure. Our costs have gone up in recent years (partly due to high inflation and rising wages). Due to low passenger numbers, revenues are lower than originally budgeted. These developments make it harder for us to deliver a high-quality product at an affordable price. To improve our financial health, we have therefore made and are making cuts without so far compromising on the quality of our train product.

Our strategy

In early 2025, we presented our revised strategy that continues to work towards a fundamentally relevant and strong NS. We want to meet the above challenges in the coming years, while at the same time attracting more passengers. Our guiding principles of reliable, affordable and committed will help us to achieve this. They ensure that we provide the best possible service to passengers and are the logical choice for passengers and for the Netherlands: on the main rail network and at stations.

Reliable

Aiming to ensure reliable travel is our main priority in the coming years. This means that passengers can count on us on the train and at the station, as we perform our core task reliably with proud and vital colleagues. Cost-conscious and continuously improving. We get passengers from A to B on time, safely and in a seat.

A lot of work will be carried out on the railway in the coming years, making it particularly important for us to focus on a robust operation: a timetable that runs to schedule, but at the same time is agile and resilient when disruptions occur. Our people make the difference.

We are constantly monitoring growing geopolitical tensions, the impact of climate change, sabotage and cyber threats. We make sure our data management and cybersecurity are in order and focus on an integrated approach.

This includes working with other companies and government agencies to be even more resilient to potential threats and unexpected disruptions on the railways in the future. We are also working closely with ProRail to better analyse the impact of planned disruptions in advance.

For us, the public safety of our passengers and employees is non-negotiable. We continue to invest in this basic safety through security measures such as the broad roll-out of bodycams and a trial of a baton for Safety & Service employees.

In addition, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management announced on Budget Day that it will make €20 million available for public safety at railway stations. NS will enter into discussions with ProRail and the ministry on exactly how this €20 million will be used.

At the same time, we are preparing for the future, in which ERTMS and other developments will enable us to operate even more trains in order to accommodate more passengers than ever.

Affordable

More and more passengers are choosing the train as part of their door-to-door journey. In terms of price, travel time and convenience, we offer a competitive and cost-conscious alternative to the car, plane and other carriers. In many cases, a train journey at the discount rate is cheaper than the same journey by car. Particularly if you include parking costs.

We are working hard to attract more passengers and encourage them to travel spread out over the day and week. One way we do this is by focusing on dynamic discounts with Price Time Deals. The initiatives seem to be having a positive effect: we are welcoming more passengers on less busy trains and the number of passengers choosing NS at the weekend are once again significantly higher than in 2019. Spreading passengers helps to make better use of rail capacity and, ultimately, reduce costs. This year, we also introduced smarter maintenance planning to ensure more seats for passengers on busy days.

We are also focusing on the bicycle-train combination, for example by aiming to provide better bicycle parking facilities and more public transport bicycles. Through these actions we encourage sustainable door-to-door travel, in which our stations and the design of the station environment play a major role. At international level, we are connecting more and more of the Netherlands and those living there to major hubs as well as attractive destinations up to 700km away.

An attractive, competitive offering ensures that we can keep the train as affordable as possible for all our passengers and contributes to a financially healthy organisation.

Committed

We want to visibly contribute to a liveable world, equal opportunities and encouraging encounters. This is something we are actively committed to, as a way of creating social value for the Netherlands.

We are committed to ensuring a viable future for the world by making the Netherlands sustainably accessible through a nationwide network. We pursue a zero-emission, circular and green business strategy, by and for everyone. Together with parties such as ProRail and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, we are working towards a Zero-waste Station in 2040. We save energy in our processes and use land for renewable energy generation. Together with University of Twente and TU Delft (as part of the European research and innovation programme Europe's Rail Joint Undertaking), we are exploring the possibilities for energy storage along the railway, to reduce peak demand and spread power consumption. We believe it is important to contribute to this because of our high electricity consumption and the general pressure on the grid.

In terms of equal opportunities, reliable and accessible transport gives more people access to jobs, education and other services. This means we help to ensure that everyone can take part and pursue their dreams, no matter where they come from. And also that we are a committed company that offers equal opportunities for our current and future employees.

Finally, we show our commitment by facilitating encounters. We bring people together. The more time we spend together, the better we come to understand each other. NS not only connects cities and destinations, but also, and most importantly, people. In times of increasing polarisation, feelings of insecurity and individualisation, we think it is especially important to emphasise the value of face-to-face encounters.

What we need to achieve this

We can only achieve our mission of being reliable, affordable and committee for our passengers and the Netherlands with the help of our people. The future of NS depends on a proud and healthy workforce.

Offering attractive work that makes a difference enables us to recruit and retain sufficient employees, including through continuing investment in personal safety, public safety and a healthy working environment. We aim to use technology to support our colleagues and guarantee attractive work with a realistic workload.

If we are to implement our strategy, we also need to be financially healthy. That means adopting a cost-conscious approach, investing where the impact is highest and making choices when resources are scarce. We cease any activities that do not contribute to our main priority: the passenger in the Netherlands.

Working together

We cannot fulfil our mission and strategy alone. We do this together with our partners. From ProRail, ministries, decentralised authorities and other transport operators to employer associations and educational institutions. Because: together, we are making the Netherlands accessible in a sustainable manner – for everyone.

We also collaborate on research and innovation with partners such as research universities, universities of applied sciences and railway sector parties like ProRail and Deutsche Bahn. With the aim of accelerating innovations and thus maximising our impact, we are also participating in various multi-year programmes. For example, together with ProRail, NS is a core member of Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking, a European research and innovation programme. By taking part in the Kickstart AI Foundation, we are helping to accelerate AI adoption in the Netherlands, while the investment fund SHIFT Invest helps us to accelerate innovations within NS.

These broad, long-term collaborations allow us to experiment, learn and scale up faster. Not only building a stronger NS, but contributing together to future-proof and sustainable mobility for the whole of the Netherlands.

Future outlook

We believe this strategy will enable us, now and in the future, to deliver on our mission: together, we are making the Netherlands accessible in a sustainable manner – for everyone. We continue to serve the public interest with this mission and focus.