Amsterdam Centraal Closed to Trains All Day on 3 October as Renovation Reaches Key Stage
Amsterdam Centraal station saw no trains at all on Saturday, 3 October 2026. Infrastructure manager ProRail used the day for a major stage of the station's renovation: track 11a was reconnected to the rail network while track 14a was taken out of use. Operator NS said services on Sunday, 4 October would be limited, and that fewer trains would run on several routes on Monday, 5 October, with heavy crowding expected in the morning peak.
ProRail said the weekend involved both visible work and a large amount of invisible work. Contractor Dura Vermeer physically connected the tracks, while the signalling system had to be adjusted in technical rooms and at the traffic control centre. ProRail construction manager Wai Ko said the signalling changes needed to bring one track into use and take another out were comparable to giving a computer a system update; because everything then had to be tested for safety, all trains at the station had to stop for a full day.
On the closure day, trains started and ended at Amsterdam Muiderpoort, Amsterdam Amstel and Amsterdam Sloterdijk instead, with passengers continuing by metro; NS tickets were also valid on the metro. Night trains were replaced by buses, and ICE trains to Germany departed from Utrecht Centraal throughout the weekend. On 4 October fewer trains ran between Haarlem, Amsterdam Centraal, Weesp, Almere and Hilversum; on 5 October services were also reduced between Zaandam and Schiphol and between Amsterdam Centraal, Muiderpoort and Utrecht. NS advised travellers to detour via Schiphol, Amsterdam Zuid or Bijlmer ArenA and to check the journey planner before departure.
From Tuesday, 6 October, no trains will stop at the platform serving tracks 13 and 14, so that contractor Strukton can complete the renewal of the whole platform. Dura Vermeer will also extend the platform towards the new rail bridge installed this spring and widen the platform's entrances and stairs.
Amsterdam Centraal, designed by architect Pierre Cuypers and opened in 1889, currently handles about 200,000 travellers a day, a figure expected to rise to 275,000. The renovation, under way for several years, is scheduled to run until around 2030 and includes wider and longer platforms, more and broader entrances, and a wider eastern tunnel, creating room for more passengers and trains.
Sources: NOS, 3 October 2026; ProRail and NS announcements, 24 September 2026.
Source: NOS
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 阿姆斯特丹中央站临艾河一侧的站台。摄影：Christian Alexander Tietgen，CC BY 4.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons（Amsterdam Centraal am 19.1.2019 01.jpg）
