Utrecht Centraal railway station

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Utrecht Centraal
Code	Ut
Opened	1843
Platform tracks	14

Inside the station hall.

Exit towards Hoog Catharijne.

Utrecht Centraal is the central railway station for the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. It is the largest railway station in the Netherlands in terms of size, with fourteen passenger tracks (of which eleven are through tracks) on seven platforms. With Utrecht being located centrally in the Netherlands, Utrecht Centraal is also the largest station in terms of passenger volume and the most important railway hub of the Netherlands.

International, national and local services call at the station, most notably the InterCityExpress trains to Frankfurt and Basel, intercity services to the northern and southern Netherlands, and local commuter services providing access to towns all over the Randstad.

1 History
2 Future expansion
3 Trains calling at the station
4 References

[edit] History

The first station at the site was opened in 1843, when the Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij opened the first station on Utrecht territory. In 1938, the station became the central station as the line from Hilversum and the Maliebaanstation, on the other side of the city, was closed.

Until the 1970s the station building of 1865 remained in place, though a fundamental renovation took place in 1936. Two years later, a fire burned down most of the building, which was subsequently rebuilt. That station building of the late 1930s was in turn demolished in the 1970s to make way for Hoog Catharijne, then Europe's largest enclosed shopping mall, which opened on December 17, 1973. Since that moment, the station hall no longer had a real entrance; the passageways of the shopping mall just continue into the station. In 1989, the station hall was enlarged to include an extra platform.

[edit] Future expansion

Between 2008 and 2013, the station will undergo a major reconstruction, partly under the flag of the general reconstruction of the Utrecht Station Area^[1], and partly under the flag of the NS-project Wereldstations. Among others, the station hall will be replaced by a new glass structure, designed by architects Benthem Crouwel Architecten. Also, the sheltering roofs on the platforms will be restored.^[2] As regards external relations, the station will be separated once again from the Hoog Catharijne shopping area. The bus station, which is currently located on the east side of the station (i.e. on the side of the city centre) will be split in two, with buses and trams arriving from the west of the city (among others the new suburb of Leidsche Rijn) terminating on the west side of the station to minimize traffic around the station.

A scale model of the new station is on display at Madurodam.^[3]

[edit] Trains calling at the station

The following train lines call at the station:

[edit] International services

105 ICE Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht Centraal - Frankfurt am Main – Basel SBB
301 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Milan Central station
313 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Vienna
319 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Munich Central Station (only in ski-season: - Garmisch-Partenkirchen)
379 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Prague
40319 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Zürich HB (only in ski-season: - Brig)
40347 CityNightLine Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Copenhagen
346 EuroNight Amsterdam Centraal - Utrecht Centraal - Berlin - Warsaw - Brest - Minsk - Moscow

CityNightLine and EuroNight services also halt at Arnhem, Emmerich, Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Cologne.

[edit] Intercity services

500/20500 Intercity Den Haag Centraal/Rotterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Amersfoort – Groningen
1700/21700 Intercity Den Haag Centraal/Rotterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Amersfoort – Enschede
800 Intercity Alkmaar – Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – 's-Hertogenbosch – Eindhoven – Maastricht/Heerlen
2000 Intercity Den Haag Centraal/ – Gouda – Utrecht Centraal – Arnhem (peak time service to Nijmegen)
2800 Intercity Rotterdam Centraal – Gouda – Utrecht Centraal - Amersfoort - Amersfoort Schothorst
3000 Intercity Den Helder – Alkmaar – Amsterdam Centraal – Utrecht Centraal – Arnhem – Nijmegen
3500 Intercity Schiphol Airport – Utrecht Centraal – 's-Hertogenbosch – Eindhoven (peak time service to Maastricht)
4900 Intercity Utrecht Centraal – Hilversum – Almere Oostvaarders
8800 Intercity Utrecht Centraal – Woerden – Alphen a/d Rijn – Leiden Centraal

[edit] Local trains

5500 Sprinter Utrecht Centraal – Den Dolder – Baarn
5600 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal – Den Dolder – Amersfoort – Zwolle
5700 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal – Hilversum – Amsterdam Zuid – Leiden
7400 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal – Driebergen-Zeist – Veenendaal – Rhenen
17400 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal – Driebergen-Zeist – Veenendaal (only during rush hour)
6000 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal Geldermalsen – Tiel
16000 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal Geldermalsen – 's-Hertogenbosch
7400 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal – Breukelen – Amsterdam Zuid
9800 Stoptrein Utrecht Centraal - Utrecht Terwijde - Vleuten - Woerden - Gouda Goverwelle - Gouda - Zoetermeer Oost - Zoetermeer - Den Haag Ypenburg - Voorburg - Den Haag Centraal