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Dutch Railways: Omnichannel as the Strategic Core

Nederlandse Spoorwegen, the national railway company of the Netherlands, faced a clear challenge: bringing together scattered content and establishing a seamless digital communication experience for every traveller. The new omnichannel platform based on CoreMedia – implemented together with IBM iX – now provides a central and future‑ready foundation. It enables streamlined processes, consistent communication across channels and a user experience that offers instant orientation wherever you are.

Train staff scanning a digital ticket on a smartphone in a modern train, illustrating seamless omnichannel customer experience of Dutch Railways.

Nederlandse Spoorwegen logo

Headless omnichannel platform based on CoreMedia

Travel & Transport
Design System
Digital Experience Platforms
Experience Strategy
CoreMedia

www.ns.nl

When millions of people are on the move, communication must be clear and reliable

At seven in the morning platforms fill up, apps are opened and service portals are searched. Travellers expect answers within seconds, not in endless loops. This was precisely the challenge for Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS): content existed in silos, approvals took time and consistency was difficult to maintain. Every update became a mini‑project and managing each channel felt like a separate journey.
The task was clear: build a content landscape that enables speed, creates clarity and unifies the digital experience across all touchpoints.

Rail staff assist a traveler with a bicycle on a train platform using a mobile app, illustrating digital omnichannel customer experience in public transport.
Rail staff assist a traveler with a bicycle on a train platform using a mobile app, illustrating digital omnichannel customer experience in public transport.
Dutch Railways omnichannel platform with website, mobile app, and content library showcasing seamless digital customer experience and headless architecture.
Dutch Railways omnichannel platform with website, mobile app, and content library showcasing seamless digital customer experience and headless architecture.

A headless platform as the backbone of the enterprise architecture

The new headless omnichannel platform now forms the foundation of NS’s digital strategy. It sits at the heart of the Enterprise Foundation, where strategic decisions are translated into future‑proof technology. Instead of maintaining content multiple times, it is now created centrally, managed in one place and delivered to all connected channels automatically – precisely at the moment it is needed.

CoreMedia provides the underlying technology. IBM iX develops the architecture, defines the methodology and implements the platform in close collaboration with NS. Step by step, a once heterogeneous landscape is becoming a system designed to support long‑term digital transformation and open the way for what comes next.

The new structure brings order to a previously fragmented environment: a clear content model and defined processes replace isolated solutions and create a reliable foundation for teams to work faster and more confidently.

 

– Governance is transparent
– Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined
– Content models are standardised
– Approval flows are faster and manual steps are reduced

 

The result is a production process that brings orientation and makes everyday collaboration noticeably easier – from the first idea to publication.

New channels can be integrated without structural changes because the architecture is built for expansion. The principle behind it: model once, use many times. The system remains agile, even as NS’s digital ecosystem continues to evolve.

– an integrated Digital Asset Management (DAM) system that makes media centrally accessible
– AI‑supported translation processes that increase speed and consistency
– standardised content models that simplify scaling
– clearly defined roles and approval paths that accelerate decisions

This significantly reduces manual effort and increases content quality without adding complexity.

The web channel is fully integrated into the omnichannel platform, and IBM iX is developing and implementing the frontend to ensure content reaches users seamlessly.

 

The programme is work in progress and continues to evolve step by step. Every new section of the website becomes a building block on the way to a unified digital presence. By 2026, the entire website will be migrated to the new structure and design system – a major milestone in NS’s digital transformation.

Digitale Buchungsplattform der Niederländischen Eisenbahn auf Desktop und Mobile zeigt nahtlose Omni-Channel Customer Experience mit Headless-Architektur und integriertem Ticketkauf.
Digitale Buchungsplattform der Niederländischen Eisenbahn auf Desktop und Mobile zeigt nahtlose Omni-Channel Customer Experience mit Headless-Architektur und integriertem Ticketkauf.
Fahrradfahrer nutzen Leihfahrräder in der Stadt und zeigen nahtlose multimodale Mobilität als Teil der Omni-Channel Customer Experience der Niederländischen Eisenbahn.
Fahrradfahrer nutzen Leihfahrräder in der Stadt und zeigen nahtlose multimodale Mobilität als Teil der Omni-Channel Customer Experience der Niederländischen Eisenbahn.

A clear strategy and modern design for a unified brand experience

The digital identity of NS is guided by an evolved design system that ensures a consistent experience across channels – an approach strongly rooted in IBM iX’s expertise in Experience Design and Communication.

Components, typography and interactions all contribute to a brand experience that feels coherent without being rigid. From the first search result to a precise service response, the NS brand feels seamless and trustworthy across all touchpoints.

Consulting, technology and implementation in an integrated approach

IBM iX follows three guiding principles: human‑centric, advisory‑driven and AI‑infused. The needs of travellers form the starting point. From there, clear structures and decisions are developed and implemented with technological precision. Intelligent tools support teams where they can increase speed and quality.

IBM iX brings extensive experience from numerous projects and its long‑standing role as a CoreMedia Platinum Partner into this collaboration in order to create the best possible outcomes for NS.

The result: solutions that perform today and scale tomorrow – without losing sight of what matters.

“The new omnichannel platform brings speed and quality to a new level. IBM iX integrates strategy, technology and implementation in a way that strengthens consistency across all channels and significantly reduces the workload for our teams.”
Project Lead Digital Channels
Nederlandse Spoorwegen

A digital foundation that connects today and scales tomorrow

The new omnichannel platform delivers more than technological improvements. It strengthens the entire content organisation. The collaboration has created not only a platform, but a structure that enables innovation.

– Content follows a unified logic
– Publishing becomes faster
– Governance brings clarity
– The architecture remains open for future developments
– The brand experience gains profile

This creates a digital infrastructure that supports both the organisation and its travellers – reliable today, expandable tomorrow.

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future together

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