Rotterdam Centraal station

Rotterdam Centraal repair shop
Accessible	Yes
Other information
Station code	Rtd
History
Opened	1847; 178 years ago (1847) (first) 21 May 1957; 67 years ago (1957-05-21) (train) 9 February 1968; 57 years ago (1968-02-09) (metro/subway) March 2014; 11 years ago (2014-03) current building)
Passengers
2023	104,840 per day (train) 23,141 per day (metro)
Services Preceding station Eurostar Following station Amsterdam Centraal Terminus Eurostar Brussels-South towards London St Pancras Schiphol Airport towards Amsterdam Centraal Antwerpen-Centraal towards Paris-Nord Antwerpen-Centraal towards Disneyland Paris Eurostar (winter) Antwerpen-Centraal towards Bourg-Saint-Maurice Eurostar (summer) Antwerpen-Centraal towards Marseille-Saint-Charles Preceding station NS International Following station Terminus Eurocity 9200 Breda towards Brussels-South Schiphol Airport towards Lelystad Centrum Eurocity Direct 9500 Antwerpen Centraal towards Brussels-South Preceding station Nederlandse Spoorwegen Following station Delft towards Den Haag Centraal NS Intercity 1100 Breda towards Eindhoven Centraal Utrecht Centraal NS Nachtnet 1400 Night Train, not on Wed Terminus Schiphol Airport towards Amersfoort Schothorst NS Intercity Direct 1800 Breda Terminus Utrecht Centraal NS Intercity 2000 Until 20:30 Terminus Amsterdam Centraal NS Intercity 2200 Rotterdam Blaak towards Vlissingen NS Intercity 2300 Mon-Fri until 20:00 Schiphol Airport towards Lelystad Centrum NS Intercity Direct 2400 Mon-Sat until 20:00 Terminus Utrecht Centraal NS Intercity 2800 Delft towards Arnhem Centraal NS Intercity 3200 Mon-Thurs before 19:00 Schiedam Centrum towards Venlo NS Intercity 3500 Rotterdam Blaak towards Dordrecht Utrecht Centraal NS Nachtnet 11400 Wednesday Night only Terminus Amsterdam Zuid NS Intercity Direct 12400 After 20:00 and Sundays Terminus NS Nachtnet 21410 Fri, Sat night only Dordrecht towards Eindhoven Centraal Rotterdam Noord towards Uitgeest NS Sprinter 4000 Terminus Schiedam Centrum towards Den Haag Centraal NS Sprinter 5000 Mon-Fri until 20:00 Rotterdam Blaak towards Dordrecht NS Sprinter 5100 NS Sprinter 5200 Mon-Thu until 19:00 Preceding station European Sleeper Following station Brussels-South Brussels - Prague Den Haag HS towards Prague Amsterdam Centraal One-way operation
Location Rotterdam Centraal Location within Southwest Randstad Show map of Southwest Randstad Rotterdam Centraal Rotterdam Centraal (Netherlands) Show map of Netherlands

Rotterdam Centraal station (Dutch pronunciation:

History

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Before World War II, Rotterdam did not have a central railway station - instead there were four stations in and around the city centre:

• Amsterdam CS and eastbound trains towards Dordrecht
• Rotterdam Beurs: towards Dordrecht, connected to Delftsche Poort
• Rotterdam Maas: terminus for eastbound trains to Gouda and Utrecht
• Den Haag HS, also going to Scheveningen
  .

On 9 February 1968 Princess Beatrix opened the first metro line in the Netherlands at Centraal station. The line connected the station to the south of Rotterdam and is now known as Line D. The first subway station had an island platform with two tracks. On 28 September 2009, a new and more spacious underground station opened right next to the old one, which was immediately demolished. The new station has two island platforms with three tracks.

The mainline station nowadays has seven island platforms with thirteen platform tracks. There are three tracks without platform (tracks 2, 5 and 10). In 2007, it was used by approximately 110,000 passengers a day.

The 1957 station building was closed in 2007 and demolished the next year - making it the first major post-war railway station in the Netherlands to be taken down to make way for a new one. The new station was completed and opened in 2014.

Rearranged roof text spelled the 1957 Central Station's swan song.

The clock and letters from 1957 were carried over on the new station

A total reconstruction of the station and its surroundings started in 2004 to cope with an increasing number of trains, for example the high-speed train between Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, and to accommodate for RandstadRail. Furthermore, the existing station, especially the passenger tunnel, also became too small to handle the growing number of passengers. Traveller numbers were projected to be 320,000 per day in 2025. To cope with this increase, a new station was necessary.

In June 2004, ProRail, NS and the Municipality of Rotterdam awarded the contract to Team CS, a cooperative between Benthem Crouwel Architekten, MVSA Meyer & Van Schooten Architects, and West 8, for transforming the existing plans into a design for the new Central Station.

On 16 May 2006 Mayor Ivo Opstelten revealed a work of Onno Poiesz consisting of the word EXIT, which was mounted behind the windows of the facade. Some of the letters "CENTRAAL STATION" that stood on the roof of the station until its closing were put in a different order by Peter Hopman and Margien Reuvekamp of Bureau Lakenvelder to read "TRAAN LATEN" ("SHED A TEAR"). The final closure of the outdated station took place on 2 September 2007 in the presence of Mayor Opstelten, to allow for the demolition of the station. Between 16 January 2008 and the end of March 2008 the station was completely demolished.

Passengers then, for years, had to use amenities housed in a temporary shelter, a smurf-blue building complex on Conrad Street on the northeast corner of the

Station layout

v t e Rotterdam Centraal station
Legend
Train services: A'dam–Haarlem–R'dam ry. to The Hague A'dam–Schiphol ry. to Schiphol Airport Metro access: Utrecht Metro station   E  to The Hague 2 3 1   E  to Beurs 2 a 4 a 6 a 8 a 12 a 14 a 16 3 a 7 a 9 a 11 a 13 a 15 a 5 10 Border control terminal for cross-Channel trains 3 b 7 b 9 b 11 b 13 b 15 b A B 2 b 4 b 6 b 8 b 12 b 14 b Tram lines 4, 7-8, 20-21, and 23-25 to Kruisplein C D F E Tram lines 4, 7-8, 12, 21, and 23-25 to Weena Breda–R'dam ry. to Breda HSL-Zuid/HSL 4/Belgian ry. line 25 to Antwerp

Train services

As one of the four main stations in the Netherlands, Rotterdam Centraal is well connected with cities all over the country. Major destinations include:

As of 2024[update], the following train services call at this station:

Rotterdam Centraal Rotterdam Metro station
General information
Owned by	RET
Tracks	2
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Services
Preceding station Rotterdam Metro Following station Stadhuis towards De Akkers Line D Terminus Stadhuis towards Slinge Line E Blijdorp towards Den Haag Centraal

Rotterdam Centraal currently serves as a terminus for

The station is served by almost all lines in the Rotterdam tramway network (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12) and are operated by RET.

The routes of the trams are as follows:

The following bus lines stop at Rotterdam Central Station:

• 33 Rotterdam Centraal - Blijdorp Zoo - Overschie - Rotterdam-The Hague Airport - Meijersplein Metro
• 38 Crooswijk - Rotterdam Centraal - Oud-Mathenesse - Schiedam Centrum
• 40 Rotterdam Centraal - Blijdorp Zoo - Overschie - Delft University - Delft
• 44 Rotterdam Centraal - Erasmus University Medical Center - Carnisse - Zuidplein
• Eurolines
• Flixbus

There are also 13 nightbus lines operating every Friday and Saturday.

The new travelers passage includes two supermarkets, a HEMA, a range of take-away food options, and two branches of Starbucks. There is also a "Station Living room".^[10] The south side features an underground bicycle parking for over 5,000 bicycles. Both the north and the south side have taxi stops. Under the Kruisplein an underground parking garage has been built with a water storage facility on top; This garage is accessible from the south (=west-east) tube of the Weena Tunnel and will be connected to the parking garage under the Schouwburgplein.

• 
  Rotterdam Centraal station facade
• 
  Main entrance of the station
• 
  Access to underground bicycle parking
• 
  Concourse to the platforms
• 
  Train platforms in Rotterdam Centraal Station
• 
  Eurostar train at Rotterdam Centraal Station
• 
  NS Intercity ICNG train at Rotterdam Centraal Station
• 
  Access to the metro station

• Nederlandse Spoorwegen
• RandstadRail

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rotterdam Central station.

• Rotterdam Centraal
• NS website
• Dutch Public Transport journey planner
• RET website
• (in Dutch) RET Network Map
• (in Dutch) Live train departures for Rotterdam Centraal station