The Dutch railway operator NS unveiled a special train at Utrecht Maliebaan station, decorated based on a drawing by an 8-year-old girl who won a national drawing contest held late last year.
The train, named “the cute monsters train”, was created based on the drawing by Phileine, from Zutphen, and was chosen from over 1,200 drawings submitted by children from all over the Netherlands.
From a child’s drawing to a train in service
According to the operator, the contest invited children to imagine the train of their dreams. Drawings were submitted featuring jungle trains, flying locomotives, and fantastical creatures transformed into rail vehicles.
The jury unanimously chose the drawing by Phileine, who imagined a train full of colorful characters, drawn in such a way as to appear friendly and not scare younger children.
Over the past few weeks, the young girl developed her drawing together with illustrator Jip Piet, so that the characters she created could be transformed into a complete design for a real train.
The train will run throughout the Netherlands
Following the official unveiling, the decorated train entered service and can now be seen on the NS network throughout the Netherlands.
At the launch event, Phileine saw the train pull into the station for the first time and took part in the inaugural moment alongside her family and company representatives.
NS aims to bring children closer to train travel
Through this contest, NS says it wanted to bring children closer to train travel, based on the idea that children perceive the journey much more as an adventure than adults do.
The company also links this initiative to the promotion of the Kids Vrij pass, which allows children aged 4 to 11 to travel for free when accompanied by an adult.
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