‘When you leave this train, think of your belongings. And travelers: don’t let yesterday’s mistakes spoil today’s beauty. Every day has its own promise, and life becomes richer or poorer as you take advantage of it.”
In the carriage the passengers half rise, they look at each other in surprise and amusement. One of the passengers raises an eyebrow. “If you think you have escaped the church, you will still get a sermon.”
“It is very good to take people out of their bubble and to their heart,” says conductor Robbert van Callias (59) as he walks through the train. “Interactions are becoming coarser, people become aggressive at the slightest thing. Love and goodness are not a luxury but a necessity.”
And then: “Life without love is like a landscape without sun.”
Dear traveler, if no one has told you today, you are a rare gem in a limited edition
The poetic conductor’s messages regularly sound through the intercom on the train. Recently, on the route from Bijlmer Arena to Utrecht Central Station: “We are approaching Utrecht station. Dear travelers, if you are about to leave the train, and if no one has told you today: you are a rare jewel in a limited edition. As long as you never forget how wonderful you are. And with these words I wish you a good day.” A wave of wonder had passed through the carriage. A passenger who had been reading had looked up from his book and shook his head in almost bewilderment. “This is absolutely great,” he had muttered. “Absolutely great.”
Entangled
It started a year and a half ago, when Van Callias, a conductor at the NS for three years, saw a woman lost in thought. “Tangled,” she said to him. When he walked down the aisle again a little later, she was still sitting there. He sat down with her and asked how her day was. “I thought I was doing well,” she replied, “but I’m not doing so well.” Her son had died during the corona period.
When Van Callias had to announce the next station a little later, he said over the intercom: “Remember, you are stronger than you think.”
Ever since he noticed the miraculous effect his words have, he has tried to give his travelers something with every ride. “Some attention, care and love, that’s what makes a person flourish,” he explains in the waiting area at Utrecht Central Station. “Especially in a world as divided as ours, compassion is the bridge that brings us together.”
Van Callias has been a conductor at the NS for three years.
Photo Simon Lenskens
Van Callias has a clear attitude to life: one of friendly equanimity that he rolls over the table in resounding one-liners. “In the harmony of things you experience the least resistance,” he says as he takes a piece of pear from a Ziploc. “Nothing disturbs my inner movement.” He also brought a bag of cut fruit for the journalist.
Yes, there is aggression sometimes on public transport. “Why should I have to practice the behavior that I despise myself? I will not let that inner peace be ruined. If you panic, you become part of the problem. Those who remain calm are part of the solution.” An old neighbor he recently encountered had told him that he was so calm as a child.
Van Callias, now with a sliced apple, talks about a friend who owns three houses in Suriname. “What about you, Van Callias?” the friend had asked. The conductor places both hands on his temples. “This is my house,” he says. “If my material house burns down, which can always happen with concrete and wood, I still have this.” Rubbing his forehead: “If this goes down, I’ll have nothing left.”
Training
For a few years now, the NS has been encouraging chief conductors to approach travelers more personally, says spokesperson Bram de Regt. In a voluntary training they are given options on how to address passengers or add something personal to their announcements. “It puts travelers at ease and also gives the conductors themselves something extra,” says De Regt. What the conductors then announce is left to themselves.
Van Callias has never done such training. He is “doing puzzles at home” on his mind. He loves languages, Dutch used to be his favorite subject. He writes the words down in his phone and then refines them as he goes.
Did today turn out differently than you had envisioned? Then I have this message for you: if the day was not your friend, it has been your teacher
The messages always change a little, he says. Sometimes he suddenly has an inspiration, he walks through the train and he has the feeling: this is what is needed now. Then he says, for example: “Did your day, at college or at work, turn out differently than you had envisioned? Do you now have the feeling that it could have been better? Then I have the following message for you: close your day with a positive thought. If the day was not your friend, it was your teacher. No matter how difficult today was, tomorrow is another day full of possibilities.”
This week he spontaneously added the following words: “Remember: the positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
He heard passengers applauding on the train.
Headphones
Van Callias is becoming a celebrity. Videos of his statements regularly go viral on TikTok. “How easy it is,” says the conductor himself, “to change someone’s journey with a few words.”
We’re going to get in again. The train goes towards Enkhuizen. Van Callias takes the timetable from the inside pocket of his conductor’s coat. “This is the ABCD of my service,” he says. “A stands for Attention, B for understanding the traveler, C for the compliments I give my traveler, and D for thank you.” It’s not really there, it’s just a matter of speaking.
Photos Simon Lenskens
“Good afternoon again, fantastic people,” it sounds through the intercom. “On this cloudy afternoon, I wish you sunshine and harmony.”
It all passes by the people with headphones and airpods. But when getting off, a few passengers always come to thank Van Callias, they give him a punch or say things like: “I just needed that, sir!” Someone once asked if he wanted to be her therapist.
Even now, at Amsterdam Central Station, it leads to personal contact with a passenger. A blond woman in a beige hat comes to shake the conductor’s hand with emotion. “Can I thank you very much for your words?” she says. “You remind us that we are all human. More people should do that.”
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The poetic conductor is “at home trying to figure out” his senses.
Video Simon Lenskens
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