NS and ProRail looking for ideas to make stations more lively

NS and ProRail are asking Netherlands residents to come up with ideas to make their train stations better, more lively places. Anyone with an idea can submit it on a website set up for the purpose from today.

“We receive many positive reactions to every initiative and therefore want to welcome even more of these social initiatives at our stations,” said Femke Woudstra of NS. “They make the station lively, more part of the neighborhood and region, and more hospitable to our travelers. It is a win-win-win situation.”

NS and Prorail have already implemented almost 90 temporary and permanent initiatives throughout the Netherlands. For example, volunteers currently give Dutch language lessons at the Kapelle-Biezelinge station, and the smallest railway museum in the country is now at Schin op Geul Station. These initiatives reached the rail companies through the grapevine. They hope the more direct route through the website will encourage more initiators to step up.

“We want to send a clear signal: good ideas are welcome at the station, and we will help you. We have a lot of experience with the ins and outs at and around the station,” Mette Janssen Groothuis of ProRail said. The rail manager can help pinpoint the best time for an initiative, given passenger flows, or may be able to lend rooms or make space available.