Amsterdam Centraal railway station

Amsterdam Centraal (code: Asd) is the central station of Amsterdam. It is one of the main railway hubs of the Netherlands and is used by 250,000 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, United Kingdom—the other terminus of the Dutchflyer rail-ferry service.

History

The building of Amsterdam Centraal is situated on three man-made islands, themselves resting on 8,687 wooden piles 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 viewed as 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)

Railway lines

Amsterdam Centraal is at the start of many railway lines, as follows:

• Amsterdam–Rotterdam railway also known as the Oude Lijn via Haarlem, Leiden and Den Haag
• Nieuwediep–Amsterdam railway also known as the Staatslijn K from Den Helder to Amsterdam via Alkmaar and Uitgeest
• Amsterdam-Zutphen railway also known as the Oosterspoorweg via Hilversum, Amersfoort and Apeldoorn
• Amsterdam-Elten railway also known as the Rhijnspoorweg via Utrecht and Arnhem
• Amsterdam-Schiphol railway also known as the Westtak Ringspoorbaan

Train services

The following train services call at Amsterdam Centraal:

(Note: as of Dec. 11, 2012 this is outdated information, as the timetable is changed considerably. All direct connections between Amsterdam/Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam via Leiden and Den Haag are broken up. Passengers are required to take the more expensive HSL trains, detour via Haarlem or change trains at Leiden or Den Haag, the latter two options taking considerable more time then the current direct connections.)

• international:
  • 1 daily Intercity-Express service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Basel
  • 6 daily Intercity-Express services Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Frankfurt
  • 1 daily CityNightLine service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Munich
  • 1 daily CityNightLine service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Berlin - Prague
  • 1 daily EuroNight service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Berlin - Warsaw
  • 1 daily CityNightLine service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Basel - Zurich
  • 1 daily CityNightLine service Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Cologne - Hamburg - Copenhagen
  • 1x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Roosendaal - Brussels
  • 10x per day high speed service (Thalys) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Brussels - Paris
• national:
  • 1x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Schiphol - Den Haag - Rotterdam
  • 2x per hour intercity service (Schagen -) Alkmaar - Amsterdam - Utrecht - Eindhoven - Maastricht/Heerlen
  • 2x per hour high speed service (Fyra) Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Breda
  • 1x per hour night train (nachtnet) service Rotterdam - The Hague - Amsterdam - Utrecht
  • 2x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Rotterdam - Roosendaal - Vlissingen
  • 2x per hour intercity service Den Helder - Amsterdam - Utrecht - Nijmegen
  • 2x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Almere - Lelystad
  • 2x per hour intercity service Enkhuizen - Hoorn - Amsterdam - Hilversum - Amersfoort Schothorst
  • 2x per hour intercity service Enkhuizen - Hoorn - Amsterdam (peak hours)
  • 2x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Haarlem - Rotterdam - Breda
  • 2x per hour intercity service Amsterdam - Schiphol - The Hague
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Uitgeest - Amsterdam - Woerden - Rotterdam
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Amsterdam - Almere Oostvaarders
  • 2x per hour local service (stoptrein) Uitgeest - Haarlem - Amsterdam
  • 2x per hour local service (stoptrein) Zandvoort - Haarlem - Amsterdam
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Amsterdam - Hilversum - Amersfoort Vathorst
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Amsterdam - Utrecht - Rhenen
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Hoofddorp - Schiphol - Amsterdam
  • 2x per hour local service (sprinter) Uitgeest - Amsterdam

Railway station layout

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):

Other transport

Metro services

Amsterdam Centraal Metro station opened in 1980 and is now the terminus of 3 lines, the 51 (Amsterdam Centraal - Amstelveen), 53 (Amsterdam Centraal - Gaasperplas) and 54 (Amsterdam Centraal - Gein).

The metro station is only accessible with an OV-chipkaart or GVB Travel Pass.

Tram services

The following tram services call at Centraal Station:

These tram services leave from outside the main entrance of the station on two sides.

Bus services

City services

City nightbuses

These services operate daily. Services start around Midnight and run until around 6am. On Mondays to Thursday Nights 1x per hour and Friday, Saturday and Sundays they run 2x per hour. The area around Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein are where people go for a night in Amsterdam.

Noord Holland services

Arriva services depart from a new bus station on the river side of the station (beyond platform 15). This can be reached from the main central walkway via escalators. Connexxion services depart from the Kamperbrug bus stops (front).

South of Amsterdam services

These services stop at the Prins Hendrikade Bus Station (South of Stationsplein)

Ferry services

These services start from the quay on the north side of De Ruyter Kade, accessible from the north exit of the station building.

Gallery

See also

• Railway stations in the Netherlands
• List of tourist attractions in Amsterdam
• nl:Stationsplein (Amsterdam) - Station square (in Dutch)
• Amsterdam Centraal Flickr Group

References

• Mak, Geert (1999, Translated from the Dutch by Philipp Blom, Originally Published in 1994). "Amsterdam, A Brief Life of the City". The Harvill Press. 

External links

• Schematic maps of all tracks, switches and platforms:
  • west side
  • east side
• Maps of the station buildings (on the NS website):
  • surroundings
  • concourse level
  • platform level
• pictures at Stationsweb,