Dutch state-owned railway company NS said on Thursday it has set aside €65m to upgrade 200 railway stations over the next five years.

‘Stations are key in determining the experience of our passengers,’ NS chief Roger van Boxtel said at the opening of the revamped Bilthoven station on Thursday.

Large stations such as Rotterdam, Utrecht and Breda have been overhauled and it is now the turn of the smaller stations, he said. ‘This is important because a third of our passengers travel via small stations,’ he said.

The changes focus on improving facilities for passengers who are waiting for a train by providing them with a more comfortable waiting room and better toilet facilities.

NS research involving over 80,500 travellers found that 76% give train stations a score of at least seven out of 10, a rise of 11 percentage points on 2014.

The improvement is largely down to the renovation programme at larger railway stations which has been underway since then, NS said.