Second new subway line needed to keep up with Amsterdam's growth: transit company GVB

By Janene Pieters on June 30, 2017 - 11:20
Journalists in Amsterdam for Noord-Zuid subway test
Journalists wait to board the first full-scale test of the Amsterdam Noord-Zuid subway line. 6 April 2017. (Dries Arnolds / NL Times)

Municipal public transit company GVB is calling on Amsterdam to commit to building another new subway line in order to keep up with the city's growth. In addition to the set to start operating next year, an Oost-West line will also be needed, GVB director Alexandra van Huffelen said in an interview with NRC.

If the city government agrees, the Oost-West line will run under Prinsengracht and Overtoom, from IJburg in the east to Schiphol in the west. It will connect to a future Schiphol terminal on the northwest side of the airport, according to the newspaper. The line will be 18.8 kilometers long and cost between 7 billion and 7.7 billion euros. 

GVB already charted which projects should be implemented first in order to prevent expected bottlenecks. The Oost-West line is the first of these. So far Amsterdam hasn't made any concrete choices for expanding the city's subway line, and the situation is getting urgent, according to the newspaper. In order to be ready for the future, the city must make a decision soon after the city council elections in March next year, Van Huffelen said. 

The GVB also recommends a subway line from Central Station, via Westerpark to Isolatorweg on the north of Sloterdijk station and Havenstad. The Noord-Zuid line will also have to be extended to Schiphol, according to the public transit company. 

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