Preserving and expanding a reliable public transport system in Westphalia-Lippe and beyond the region - this is the goal pursued by Zweckverband Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe, or NWL for short.

Since its founding in January 2008, the NWL has been responsible for organizing local rail passenger transport in North Rhine-Westphalia together with Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and Zweckverband Nahverkehr Rheinland (NVR). The NWL area, which has approximately 5.57 million inhabitants, extends from the district of Steinfurt to the Märkischer Kreis and to Siegen-Wittgenstein. In total, there are 56 public transport lines on the NWL's 1,796-kilometer route network.