‘Together, we make the Netherlands accessible. For everyone.’

To ensure that the Netherlands remains accessible, we put major efforts in 2018 into finding the connections within NS and beyond in order to shape our new vision of the future. Every new vision stands on the shoulders of its predecessors; that applies to NS too. This lets us ensure continuity, while we also have to keep moving with the times.

Developing a strategy, with others

To find answers for the mobility issues, we sought out broad-ranging cooperation. Various meetings were held at NS throughout the Netherlands and online, with staff, with the works councils and the unions, thinking about the future of NS so that we can shape our vision, together.
In addition, we talked to over 70 external stakeholders about NS’s role in the future of mobility in the Netherlands. Various dialogue sessions included representatives from ministries, regional authorities, consumer organisations, partners from the Mobility Alliance, nature and environmental organisations, trade unions, suppliers and knowledge partners, the youth organisations of political parties and the NOVB (National Public Transport Council).
Based on all the insights, we presented the new joint vision of NS, within the broader context of mobility in the Netherlands, midway through 2018.

Interim result: the new mission and vision of the future for NS

‘Together, we make the Netherlands accessible. For everyone.’ That is our mission. Especially because it is going to be even more crowded in future, with people wanting to travel more and wanting their journeys to be greener. In addition, we are proactively working to contribute to the economic and spatial development of the Netherlands. We have a clear aim: to be delivering world-class mobility by 2025. Always close by, always affordable and always sustainable. To put it simply: we want to be the best mobility company in Europe.
To keep the Netherlands accessible in the future as well, we have set our sights on a broader concept of mobility: so we’re looking beyond the train and at better connections with other modalities. The focal point for this is the ever-changing wishes of our various groups of passengers. Passengers in different parts of the country: urban regions, rural regions and border areas. Passengers with wish-lists that are increasing digital as well as physical. We play an active part in the development and implementation of mobility solutions in an integrated network.

Next steps

We are working out the strategy for the Netherlands from 2020 onwards, based on the mission and vision. In 2018, we worked on the strategic directions for NS in the Netherlands (“What are we going to do?”). The elaboration of the strategic choices (“How are we going to do it?”) and the objectives will be in mid-2019, after which we will let Spoorslags Beter transition to the new strategy in 2020.