Revamps for Amsterdam, Schiphol stations to accommodate 10-minute train schedule

ProRail will rebuild and revamp large parts of Amsterdam Central Station, Amsterdam Amstel Station and Schiphol Station in the coming years, a spokesperson for ProRail confirmed to NU.nl after reports in the Telegraaf. This is necessary to accommodate the new 10-minute train schedule ProRail and NS plan to implement.

The new schedule, in which trains run on the major routes every 10 minutes, is expected to lead to a massive increase in passengers. ProRail expects to process 50 percent more passengers by 2030, compared to the current number of travelers using the train. In order to handle this many passengers smoothly, platforms need to be extended and widened, more entrance gates need to be added and the pedestrian tunnels need to be widened. All this will cost billions of euros.

The renovations are scheduled to start next year, and the intention is to complete them within six years. ProRail hopes to limit inconvenience to passengers as much as possible.

Over the past years, travelers already faced major construction works at some of these stations. "It is true that, for example, Amsterdam Central Station underwent a thorough refurbishment in recent years", a ProRail spokesperson said to the newspaper. "And we already modified a number of things. But such a big adjustment to the schedule asks for further changes."

The first 10 minute train schedule will be permanently implemented on the Amsterdam-Utrecht-Eindhoven route on December 10th. ProRail and NS intend to also implement this schedule on the routes between Amsterdam and Nijmegen, Amsterdam and Alkmaar, Almere and Lelystad, and The Hague and Rotterdam in the coming years.

A number of major stations in the Randstad are already prepared for the increase in passengers the new schedule is expected to cause. These include Rotterdam Central Station, Utrecht Central Station and The Hague Central Station. Though a major renovation is also scheduled for The Hague Central Station in 2019, during which access gates that were incorrectly placed in a previous renovation will be moved and a number of switches will be changed, according to the newspaper.