Amsterdam Centraal railway station

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Amsterdam Centraal
Code Asd
Opened 1889
Platform tracks 11
Amsterdam Centraal railway station (metro van Amsterdam)
Amsterdam Centraal railway station
Amsterdam Centraal station in the 19th century.
Amsterdam Centraal station in the 19th century.

Amsterdam Centraal (Asd) is the Centraal Station (Central Station) of Amsterdam. It is one of the main railway nodes of the Netherlands and is used by approximately 150,000 passengers a day, excluding transferring passengers. It is also the starting point of Amsterdam Metro lines 51, 53, and 54. The station building of Amsterdam Centraal was designed by Pierre Cuypers and A. L. van Gendt, and opened in 1889. It features a roof span of approximately 40 metres fabricated in cast iron by Andrew Handyside of Derby, England.[1] The station is currently under reconstruction due to the construction of the North/South metro line (metro line 52).

Amsterdam Centraal is twinned with Liverpool Street station in London, England.

Contents

[edit] History

The building of Amsterdam Centraal is situated on three man-made islands, themselves resting on 8,687 wooden poles which have been driven deep into the muddy and sandy soil. The current location of the station is not the site the city of Amsterdam had originally hoped for; other possibilities included somewhere near the Leidseplein, the Weesperplein, or in the vicinity of the modern-day Sarphatipark. Officials in The Hague, however, felt that the eventual location at the head of the city, along The IJ, was the best location. This was a highly controversial decision, as it effectively cut off Amsterdam from its own waterfront, making it, for all purposes, an inland city. In his History of Amsterdam, Dutch historian Geert Mak writes that:

Almost all of Amsterdam's own experts and others involved in thought this to be a catastrophic plan, 'the most disgusting possible attack on the beauty and glory of the capital'. Nevertheless, the building of the Central Station in front of the open harbour was forced through by the railway department of the Ministry of Transport in The Hague, and the Home Secretary, Thorbecke. Finally, the plan made its way through the Amsterdam municipal council by a narrow majority. (Mak 1994)

The Tokyo Station building is often rumored to be fashioned after it, although there is little evidence to support the theory. Terunobu Fujimori, a scholar of the Western architecture, denied the rumor after studying the styles of Tokyo's station architect, Tatsuno Kingo, as well as the building itself.[2]

[edit] Railway Lines

Previous Line Next
Terminus   Thalys
Amsterdam-Paris		   Schiphol
Terminus   CityNightLine
Pegasus		   Utrecht
Centraal
Terminus   CityNightLine
Pollux		   Utrecht
Centraal
Terminus   InterCityExpress
Amsterdam-Frankfurt		   Duivendrecht
Terminus   GoLondon
Amsterdam-London/Norwich		   Schiphol
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Brussels Intercity		   Schiphol
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Zandvoort/Uitgeest		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Breda		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam Centraal-Den Haag Central		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Vlissingen		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport		   Schiphol
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Leeuwarden/Enschede/
Groningen Intercity		   Hilversum
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Rotterdam Stoptrein		   Amsterdam
Muiderpoort
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Utrecht/Nijmegen/
Maastricht/Heerlen Intercity		   Amsterdam
Amstel
Amsterdam
Amstel		   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Utrecht-Den Helder Intercity		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk
Terminus   Nederlandse Spoorwegen
Amsterdam-Enkhuizen		   Amsterdam
Sloterdijk

[edit] Railway station layout

Amsterdam Centraal station at night
Amsterdam Centraal station at night

There are 15 tracks, of which 11 along a platform:

  • 4 island platforms with on both sides tracks along the full length (tracks 4/5, 7/8, 10/11, 13/14)
  • 1 side platform with 1 track along the full length (15)
  • 1 bay platform / side platform with 2 tracks (1/2)

10 of the 11 tracks along a platform have an a- and a b-side (all except track 1), hence there are 21 places where a train can be positioned for getting on and off.

One with on one side track along the full length (track 2), on the other side there is track only at the west end (track 1; bay platform), along the rest of the platform is the station building.

Tracks 3, 6, 9, and 12 have no platform.

Diagram (platforms are yellow, tunnels are grey, north is up):

           
 
15a ========== ========== ========== ========== 15b
14a ========== ========== ========== ========== 14b
 
13a ========== ========== ========== ========== 13b
12a ========== ========== ========== ========== 12b
11a ========== ========== ========== ========== 11b
 
10a ========== ========== ========== ========== 10b
9a ========== ========== ========== ========== 9b
8a ========== ========== ========== ========== 8b
 
7a ========== ========== ========== ========== 7b
6a ========== ========== ========== ========== 6b
5a ========== ========== ========== ========== 5b
 
4a ========== ========== ========== ========== 4b
3a ========== ========== ========== ========== 3b
2a ========== ========== ========== ========== 2b
 
1 ====
Railway Schiphol to Amsterdam Centraal (part of line 10), with stations (municipalities in bold) and official station abbreviations:
Railway Haarlem to Amsterdam Centraal (part of line 10), with stations (municipalities in bold) and official station abbreviations:

[edit] Amsterdam Metro

Amsterdam Centraal is also a major station on the Amsterdam Metro, with three of the four lines terminating there.

Previous Line Next
Terminus   Line 51   Amsterdam
Nieuwmarkt
Amsterdam
Van Hasseltweg		   Line 52
(under construction)		   Amsterdam Rokin
Terminus   Line 53   Amsterdam
Nieuwmarkt
Terminus   Line 54   Amsterdam
Nieuwmarkt
Amsterdam Centraal station from the side.
Amsterdam Centraal station from the side.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Robert Thorne, ‘Handyside, Andrew (1805–1887)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 9 Jan 2008
  2. ^ Kenchiku Tantei Uten Kekkō (建築探偵 雨天決行; "Architecture Detective, Rain or Shine"), Terunobu Fujimori, ISBN 978-4022611796
  • Mak, Geert. "Amsterdam, A Brief Life of the City", The Harvill Press, 1999, Translated from the Dutch by Philipp Blom, Originally Published in 1994. 

[edit] External links

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