Westerbeek explains why that role of front-runner is important: “NS consumes 1.5% of all electricity in the Netherlands, so without doubt we can make a difference. Equally important is for us to set an example for society. In 2015, we started purchasing electricity from wind farms in the Netherlands and in our neighboring countries. Since 2017, all trains have been running on wind energy and even many parties from the Netherlands and abroad have visited us to find inspiration. In establishing our contract with Eneco, we created a file of opportunities in renewable energy. One of the opportunities is that we no longer want to rely on fossil backup when the wind is not blowing.” Next to that, the railway company places great emphasis on the circular economy: “We miss no opportunity to use new raw materials as sparingly as possible. When renovating our VIRM fleet (the double-decker trains), 99% was reused.”

Shift to AI

“We conserve energy where we can,” agrees Bart van Zaalen, Head of Digitalization Operations NS. “When tendering and purchasing, we look at energy-efficient trains and solutions like energy feedbacks when braking. Five years ago, we started to tailor our equipment plan to the number of passengers we carry. Such a plan is always delivered four weeks before implementation. But a lot can happen in four weeks, so there are always deviations on the day of implementation. In that case, you want to know which anomaly is most important to solve. On the one hand for the traveler, to avoid seat shortages or delays. On the other to be more efficient with the equipment in use, as well with energy consumption. That logistics puzzle has become increasingly complex and challenging. The use of new technologies has taken off partly because of this.” Also in operations, people are more and more supported by systems to make the right decision, Van Zaalen says from experience: "Traditionally, a great deal of data was put into dashboards and manually analyzed. These days, NS is increasingly making use of techniques such as advanced analytics and operations research (OR)." He anticipates that the shift to advanced analytics and AI will continue in the coming years. “More passengers, more journeys, and more peak times: it’s a good thing technology hasn’t stood still for the past twenty years,” Westerbeek says. You want to recalibrate the timetable as often as possible to avoid utilizing too much, but also not too little capacity. We also try to flatten the peaks, to get a more even distribution of passengers. You could influence that, for example, by means of price differentiation.”

Besides equipment, also lots of energy can be conserved by optimizing schedules. “Much scientific research has been carried out on how to include various target functions: getting as many passengers as possible from A to B as quickly as possible at the lowest possible cost,” says Gerben Scheepmaker, Business Consultant at NS. In practice, this still works only to a limited extent. The area I focused on in my doctoral research was how to incorporate energy-efficient driving into your timetable and what you can achieve. And there's quite some potential there. If a train driver is traveling 140 kilometers per hour (87 mph) on a double-decker train and he turns off traction, the train rolls on for a distance of 20 kilometers and still reaches a speed of 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph). It adds up.” In his research, Scheepmaker focused extensively on what we can learn from the past: “You used to have a so-called coal premium on steam trains to encourage drivers to drive more economically. That turned out to be not quite the right incentive. Back in the days, the headquarters came up with ideas, which then had to be implemented by train drivers and conductors without involving them from the beginning. By now, we know that it is important to get the drivers and conductors enthusiastic first. Once an idea – like rolling out a train - is embraced, we can support them with a Driver Advisory System, for example, so they know when to roll out to arrive on time." There is lots of saving to be achieved with energy-efficient driving: it amounts to ± 5% of traction energy consumption on year basis, so that in turn easily runs into millions of euros.

Several years ago, NS revised its strategy. Westerbeek says: “We notice that management is really paying attention to sustainability. The board of directors is looking at long-term solutions and is investing in them.” The non-committal nature of sustainability is long gone, Westerbeek says. “Fortunately, as an organization, you are expected to show what you have accomplished, including in annual reports. I however think the government could help even more. Too often, people think that the market can solve the problem on its own. But as an organization you are often dependent on many different parties. If, for example, research shows that it is more energy efficient to lay a curve in the rails slightly straighter, ProRail is the appropriate party to do so. Except: in this case, the resulting benefits are for NS. It is, therefore, a joint effort. It comes down to who is going to provide what incentives.” Together goes beyond just ProRail: it involves the entire chain. "The client, the passengers, and the suppliers. Even data and digital tooling vendors.

Bringing worlds together

Internally, we are bringing the worlds of business, data, and IT ever closer together in multidisciplinary teams. This way of working is new on many levels. Therefore, it takes some getting used to. To reap the benefits of advanced analytics or AI, it is essential to have the basics in place. You must have the right data available and unlock this data in the correct way. Even as important is having the right level of data quality and being able to offer the data in an accessible way to create value with it. These are all preconditions that create true challenges of their own. But we do see the tremendous added value of advanced analytics. We therefore continue with a great deal of enthusiasm to jointly accelerate the digitization of NS, including in terms of sustainability.”