In the coming years, NS plans on renovating 200 of the 396 train stations in the country. For such an undertaking, the railway company has set aside 65 million euros for the next five years.
The Chief Executive of NS, Roger van Boxtel, announced the renovation plans during the presentation of the annual figures in Bilthoven on Thursday. He reasons that the stations play a large role in the overall experience of passengers and puts forward that “After the renovations to major stations such as Rotterdam Central Station, Breda, Arnhem Central Station and Utrecht Central Station, we now want to make other stations more pleasant”.
Van Boxtel regards the renovations as important, as a third of all passengers travels via smaller stations. One thing you will see pop up at stations is the so-called Station Living Room, which will replace the Kiosk. This Living Room will provide passengers with spaces to sit, but also access to amenities such as WiFi, up-to-date travel information and somewhere to get something to eat or drink.
NS plans on having 35 Station Living Rooms by 2021 and is also looking into opening a Kiosk or working together with local businesses to create a comfortable waiting area at stations where there are no amenities as of yet. NS also wants to work with ProRail on upgrading toilet facilities and allowing contactless payments at 92 smaller stations within the next three years. A while ago, NS also announced plans to provide 200 stations with free water tapping points in 2019.
According to the 2018 Station Experience Survey, which 80.551 passengers took part in, more than 75 percent of passengers score NS stations 7/10 or higher. In 2014, only 65 percent gave such scores. Passengers are thus becoming more positive about the stations.