While in previous years we had to make every conceivable effort to facilitate the growth in passenger volumes, the challenge has now shifted to winning passengers back, recovering passenger volumes and rebuilding our results and our financial position. Affordable train fares, high-quality operational performance and satisfied customers remain central to everything we do.
NS wants to be able to continue providing world-class mobility services now and during the subsequent franchise period from 2025: always accessible, always sustainable and always affordable. To that end, we will continue innovating and investing in new trains, even more convenient payment options, propositions to match evolving customer needs and passenger behaviours, and world-class stations that serve as mobility hubs. Despite the losses that NS will incur over the years ahead as a result of the downward adjustment of passenger forecasts, we will continue to invest to make these ambitions come true. The amounts invested will however be adapted to the changed circumstances and outlook. As a result, in the period ahead we will devote a great deal of attention to scaling down our organisation in order to adapt our costs, products and services to this new reality. Even after the virus has been overcome, the change in travel behaviours will persist and it will take years before passenger numbers have fully recovered. In order to balance our cost level with these new prospects, NS has prepared a cost-saving programme worth €1.4 billion covering the period through 2024. Our important social function is a major consideration in how we design and provide services for passengers. If we are to continue performing that social function, financial agreements are essential.