Amsterdam Centraal railway station

Infobox NS-station
station=Amsterdam Centraal
stationscode=Asd
opened=1889
platforms=11
latdeg=52
latmin=22
latsec=42
londeg=4
lonmin=54
lonsec=0
positiekaartnaam=Amsterdams metrostation

Amsterdam Centraal (Asd) is the 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. [Robert Thorne, ‘Handyside, Andrew (1805–1887)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47598, accessed 9 Jan 2008] ] 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, UK.

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 said to be fashioned after it, but there is little evidence to support the theory. In fact, Terunobu Fujimori, a scholar of the Western architecture, denied the connection after studying both the building itself and the styles of Tokyo's station architect, Tatsuno Kingo. ["Kenchiku Tantei Uten Kekkō" (建築探偵 雨天決行; "Architecture Detective, Rain or Shine"), Terunobu Fujimori, ISBN 978-4022611796]

Train Services

The following train services call at Amsterdam Centraal:

International Services

Railway Lines

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Destinations

This is a list of some of the destinations from Amsterdam Centraal:

Alkmaar, Almere Centrum, Amersfoort, Amsterdam Muiderpoort, Amsterdam Amstel, Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA, Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Amsterdam Lelylaan,Apeldoorn, Arnhem, Breda, Den Haag Centraal, Den Haag HS, Den Helder, Deventer, Diemen, Dordrecht, Duivendrecht, Ede-Wageningen, Enkhuizen, Gouda, Haarlem, Hilversum Heerlen, 'S-Hertogenbosch, Hoofddorp, Hoorn, Leiden Centraal, Lelystad Centrum, Maastricht, Nijmegen, Purmerend, Roermond, Roosendaal, Rotterdam Centraal, Schiphol, Uitgeest, Utrecht Centraal, Vlissingen, Weesp, Zaandam.

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):

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.

ee also

*Railway stations in the Netherlands
*List of tourist attractions in Amsterdam
* - Station square (in Dutch)

References

*

External links

*Schematic maps of all tracks, switches and platforms:
** [http://www.sporenplan.nl/html_nl/sporenplan/ns/ns_normaal/asd_w.html west side]
** [http://www.sporenplan.nl/html_nl/sporenplan/ns/ns_normaal/asd_o.html east side]
* Maps of the station buildings (on the NS website):
** [http://www.ns.nl/servlet/MapServer?station=asd&level=omg&lang=en surroundings]
** [http://www.ns.nl/servlet/MapServer?station=asd&level=bg&lang=en concourse level]
** [http://www.ns.nl/servlet/MapServer?station=asd&level=1&lang=en platform level]
* [http://www15.brinkster.com/stationsweb/station.asp?station=amsterdamcs pictures at Stationsweb] ,