# AMSTERDAM | Public Transport



## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

*Amsterdam has a metro as well!!!*

Looking through this section, I couldn't find any thread dedicated to the Amsterdam metro. That's rather odd, considering the facts that Amsterdam is one of the most popular European tourist destinations (free drugs, sex, rock and roll! :scouserd: ) and that I've found threads dealing with systems in cities I never even heard of...

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I'll start a thread about Amsterdam's metro system - my home town, actually.

Amsterdam's system is most interesting because of its history. Back in the sixties, transport officials and townsmen planned a huge network:










It should be completed by 2000, but that obviously never happened. Soaring construction costs, student revolts and even something resembling a civil war in the Nieuwmarkt area, where a whole historic quarter had to be demolished to make way for the subway, eventually led to the demise of the subway plan. Only in 1991 a new branch line opened, that linked the town of Amstelveen to the already existing line. This wasn't even a metro line proper, but a light rail line, which the Dutch call 'sneltram'. The use of the word 'tram' actually was a politically correct term - in no way an indication should be made to the idea of a full metro (due to its history).
In 1997 another new line opened which avoided the city center altogether and initially was referred to as a 'sneltram' line as well. It turned out to be a full metro line and today, this is the busiest line of the system with some 80.000 passengers a day.
In 2003, Amsterdam finally seemed to have gotten over its metro trauma. Construction of the new North-South line began, cutting right through the city center and scheduled for completion in 2011 2012. What the future might hold is uncertain - but proposals have been made to construct an east-west line, linking the Lelylaan station (train and metro) in the west to the Muiderpoort station (train only) in the east. No dates or other details are known about this line, though. It should use the never used lower level of the Weesperplein metro station.

This is what the system looks like today (and do pay attention to the name at the bottom right):










...and this is a map showing what the system might have looked like, had it been finished according to the original plans (click to enlarge):


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## Blue Viking (Dec 15, 2005)

Alargule said:


> In 2003, Amsterdam finally seemed to have gotten over its metro trauma. Construction of the new North-South line began, cutting right through the city center and scheduled for completion in 2011 2012. What the future might hold is uncertain - but proposals have been made to construct an east-west line, linking the Lelylaan station (train and metro) in the west to the Muiderpoort station (train only) in the east. No dates or other details are known about this line, though. It should use the never used lower level of the Weesperplein metro station.
> 
> This is what the system looks like today (and do pay attention to the name at the bottom right):


When I was in Amsterdam in May, the blue line didn't look completed. Rokin was a huge building site. So I guess the blue line is the unfinished north-south line that you mention. That aside, this is very interesting reading. I remember seeing a documentary about the riots in the sixties. That was really crazy. Nimbys gone wild!


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## lpioe (May 6, 2006)

good job Alargule kay:


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Blue Viking said:


> When I was in Amsterdam in May, the blue line didn't look completed. Rokin was a huge building site. So I guess the blue line is the unfinished north-south line that you mention. That aside, this is very interesting reading. I remember seeing a documentary about the riots in the sixties. That was really crazy. Nimbys gone wild!


Yep, the blue line is the N-S line. And those 'nimby's'...well, can't blame them. It wasn't just their backyards where the line was being built, but their whole houses! That neighbourhood was considered of significant historical interest, especially since it used to be the main Jewish quarter of Amsterdam. That was: before the nazi's came and ethnically cleansed the whole neighbourhood...


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## Nemo (Jul 5, 2004)

@BLUE VIKING
True, the blue line represents the city's ambitious north-south-line which is 
under construction now and will be completed and operational around 2011. Its a special project, because Amsterdams 17th century innercity is built on 
a swamp and the tunnel will be drilled underneath the fragile architecture. Thats why some stations will be as deep as 35 metres under ground level.

Its a huge project that includes a major extension of the old Central Station 
and a large TGV/HSL station on the developing south-axis with its new highrise cluster. 

The north-south line is just the beginning, because in the near future there will be extensions to Schiphol airport and extensions in the northern suburbs 
of Amsterdam.









*South-Axis*









*Central Station (CS)*









*CS*









*CS metro*


















*Vijzelgracht*









*Ceintuurbaan*


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

> The north-south line is just the beginning, because in the near future there will be extensions to Schiphol airport and extensions in the northern suburbs
> of Amsterdam.


Although the extension to Schiphol is likely to happen, I don't think we'll ever see the line extended toward the north - or it should be via a new route that links Zaandam to the line. Purmerend has explicitly stated it doesn't want to co-operate in extended the line. Neither do I see any reason to do it: at present, there's a huge and frequent bus net that serves Purmerend and feeds directly into the central station.


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## Zim Flyer (Sep 2, 2004)

In a word : wow.

This system looks great, the stations look superb.

Thanks for a very imformative thread Alargule, I thought the UK had it bad in terms of actually getting any thing built with our terrible planning laws but you guys have it bad as well.


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## Momo1435 (Oct 3, 2005)

Zim Flyer said:


> In a word : wow.
> 
> This system looks great, the stations look superb.


Just wait till you see the stations on the existing lines, most are very far from superb. Most are are even rubbish, a few years back there was a project called Metromorfose to completely renovate the stations that were build in the seventies. But it was cancelled because of budget problems, it turned out to be far to expensive. Now they're beginning to renovate the stations in less drastic but cheaper way.


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## crossbowman (Apr 26, 2006)

Anyone got pics of the existing stations for all of us who haven't visited Amsterdam?


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## AmiDelf (Jun 9, 2004)

Tram picture









Metro alike station on tram line 26









The tram tunnel ;









Nice trambridges on Line 26

This is all of my pics from Amsterdam. Taken with my Nokia N70 mobilephone.


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## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Looks great. Were the high costs mainly due to the soil conditions?


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## spongeg (May 1, 2006)

cool

I watched a show on the discovery channel about two months ago all about the constrructionm etc of the amsterdam subway and the stuff they kept finding while digging like medevial things and such - little shards or artifacts of things


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## [email protected] (Aug 14, 2006)

Alargule said:


> This is what the system looks like today (and do pay attention to the name at the bottom right):


What the... you actually made a map for Robert Schwandl's UrbanRail.Net? :eek2: Awesome! I guess that working together with the great map maker, the godfather of UrbanRail, is a dream for all of us tram/metro freaks... so congratulations!


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Well, to be honest: I didn't make that map entirely from scratch, but I based it on the already existing map he (or one of his colleagues) had made.
When the IJtram opened (line 26), I thought it should appear on the map as well, since Urbanrail does not only treat full metro systems, but systems with shared metro/tram characteristics as well. And the IJtram has quite some metro characteristics: it runs on a reserved track for most of its length, uses a 1 mile long tram tunnel and has a metro-like station 'Rietlandpark' (as can be seen at AmiDelf's photo). Originally, it should have been a full metro line: there even is an unused tunnel section at the northern side of the Central Station that should have been the underground terminus for this line.
So, all the metro lines and rail lines you can see on that map were made by Urbanrail; I only drew in line 26...


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

samsonyuen said:


> Looks great. Were the high costs mainly due to the soil conditions?


No. Inflation, oil crises and wrong cost calculations led to the high construction costs.


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## JDRS (Feb 8, 2004)

I'm a bit confused. When you say metro, do you mean a metro of trams? When I was in Amsterdam in Easter we used the trams quite alot, but no underground subways? The blue line looks very exciting, and there was alot of work happening around Centraal Station.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

^^ A _real_ metro, running underground in the city centre and on a viaduct in the surrounding area.


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## www.Rotterdam.nl (Oct 14, 2005)

The Green, Red and Yellow lines are full metro. The new blue 'North-South' line is under construction. The Purple and orange lines are metro like 'Sneltrams' (quick-trams).


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## jeremy1897 (Apr 15, 2006)

[email protected] said:


> What the... you actually made a map for Robert Schwandl's UrbanRail.Net? :eek2: Awesome! I guess that working together with the great map maker, the godfather of UrbanRail, is a dream for all of us tram/metro freaks... so congratulations!


Go to the Hong Kong or Shenzhen page of UrbanRail.Net , and look for the interactive integrated rail map for the 2 cities....
Or simply click http://de.geocities.com/m_hong_kong/HK.swf

And i did make the map from scratch.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

^^ Looks nice! Unfortunately, I don't know how to make Flash-animation. Otherwise, it'd be nice to make a historical map for the Amsterdam metro, showing exactly when certain stretches were opened/will open.


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## Marwel (Mar 1, 2010)

Excellent information. 
I Love Amsterdam


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

Alargule said:


> Already covered here. :lock:


Yes I see, it covers your metro section. But in my opinion, there aren't a lot of threads about the Amsterdam public transportation. 
So I think it's logical and convenient to show all the public transportation in one thread.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Could a mod please merge the Amsterdam threads then?

Thank you


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## deasine (Sep 13, 2007)

All done. Amsterdam is actually listed on the Thread Finder. Please try to make sure your city is not listed before you start a thread.


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

@Mr_Dru thanks for putting all the info together


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## xlchris (Jun 23, 2006)

New metrostation u/c at RAI/Europaplein on the North / South line.



Sky Scraper said:


> ^^
> "Station Europaplein komt vlak bij de hoofdingang van de RAI. Het station krijgt 2 ingangen: één ter hoogte van de Hollandhal en één bij de Europahal." (bron: http://www.noordzuidlijn.amsterdam.nl/stations_en_overige/europaplein)
> 
> Deze dingen dus, lijkt me:
> ...


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Mr_Dru said:


> Some houses didn't survive the drilling under the ground


I don't know if i should be replying to an old post, but this is just untrue.

No houses were harmed in the drilling process so far.

Construction of one of the stations did cause damage to a few houses, but they did "survive" (i.e. they did not collapse and are not beyond repair).


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

^^
Damage to the houses were caused by a leak in the construction of one of the stations. A leak between connections of diafram walls. The houses dropped up to 23 centimeter at the corner within 30 minutes in 2008. 

They recently leveled and jackup the houses. Soon enough there is no damage to be seen to the outside with the exception to any old damages.


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## skytrax (Nov 12, 2006)

amazing project


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

*Major cuts in public transports in Amsterdam*

From DutchNews Portal:

*Amsterdam faces major public transport cuts*

Amsterdam's public transport company GVB will have to slash routes, weekend and evening services next year because of city council funding cuts, transport executive Eric Wiebes says in an interview with Tuesday's Parool.

The city plans to cut spending on public transport by €13m in 2012. 'These are hefty cuts and lots of Amsterdammers will be hit,' Wiebes told the paper.

In future years, if planned savings go ahead, six of the 16 tram lines will be cut, as will 20 out of 44 bus routes, Wiebes said. 'We can't save much on maintenance and infrastructure so the money will have to come from day-to-day running costs,' Wiebes told the paper.

The coalition agreement includes a deal to cut spending on public transport by a total €120m a year from 2013 to 2017 in Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam.

The government says this can be achieved by putting public transport services out to tender, but all three cities are opposed, saying they have already slashed spending and boosted efficiency.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Cutting 6 out of 16 tram routes?

That is absurd. Maybe it's just a threat by GVB to restore municipal funding. Netherlands has one of the best economies in Europe; I don't understand why this would be happening.

Would these cuts lead to some stretches of track no longer being served by any trams? There are many stops on the Amsterdam trams served by multiple routes, so perhaps they can cut routes but still make sure that all places continue to have some level of service.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> Cutting 6 out of 16 tram routes?


And 20 out of 44 bus lines. But cutting a route would not mean removing the tracks, just cutting a service (as it is mostly known in English).



> That is absurd. Maybe it's just a threat by GVB to restore municipal funding. Netherlands has one of the best economies in Europe; I don't understand why this would be happening.


Farebox recovery rates are too low in Amsterdam. Students can ride the system for free either during weekdays or weekends. Many companies buy cheap monthly passes for their workers, particularly those (not many) near the Canal Belt, where parking costs as much as € 500/month.

Netherlands has, right now, the 3rd highest per-capita income in Europe and the lowest unemployment rate. Nonetheless, the government wants to cut deficit and part of those saving have to come from public transportation, deemed not as efficient as the never-heard-before increase on highway expansion (€ 13 billions next 7 years).

Apparently, Netherlands is taking the lead in investing money where it is more effective: on highways, that carry 73% of the km-passenger trips made by motor vehicles in the country.



> Would these cuts lead to some stretches of track no longer being served by any trams? There are many stops on the Amsterdam trams served by multiple routes, so perhaps they can cut routes but still make sure that all places continue to have some level of service.


That is what is likely to happen. Compared to - say - Rotterdam or UTrecht, Amsterdam has many superimposed routes meant to facilitate traffic. Many bus routes are redundant, they just want to carry passengers in a circular pattern without the need for many connections (overstappen) in downtown. So I think what is likely to happen is a reduction on services for any given area, without actually living any neighborhood without services - that would be politically unfeasible. 

Many services linking outskirts-to-outskirts will likely be cut, requiring passengers to take more heavily used routes and make more connections if they are travelling in non-radial patterns. But some of those services are ridiculous, indeed: despite many frequent trains to Schiphol Airport, there are many buses going there so passengers can avoid making a bus-train connection.

Major cuts, however, will come on evening and weekend service. It was about time: the extensive night bus network hemorrhages money and it is way beyond what would be reasonable, even if it costs more than the regular fare and passes do not apply to them. To have one night bus carrying 4-10 people every half an hour, all night long, is just insane.

But let's see how things develop.

Construction of the north-south metro line will not be affected as it comes from a different budget (capital investments, not operational expenses budget). Indeed, one of the consequences of this shift would be a sharp increase in subway utilization, with reorganization of bus routes that would end in subway stations instead of running more-or-less along them.

Diversion to road traffic should not be a concern: majority of users of PT in Amsterdam don't have a car anyway, and even if they did, traffic from suburbs of Amsterdam Metro already is much bigger than any diversion to road caused by degraded local service.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

I can't believe that parking in downtown Amsterdam can cost 500 euro a month. That's probably the price to rent a studio on the outskirts of town.

Maybe they should cut the trams to Sloterdijk. That area is already served by both the metro and commuter rail to Haarlem.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> I can't believe that parking in downtown Amsterdam can cost 500 euro a month. That's probably the price to rent a studio on the outskirts of town.


Examples of prices to Park at the underground garage at Museumplein.



> 7x24	Ma t/m zondag, 24 uur per dag	€ 460,38
> Kantoor	Ma t/m vrijdag, 07.00 - 19.00 uur	€ 322,71
> Nacht	Ma t/m zondag, 17.00 - 10.00 uur	€ 162,56


So it costs € 460 for a 24/7 parking spot there. Day tickets there cost whopping € 44,-.

Things get worse if you want a permanent parking spot near the Dam Square (where is almost impossible to find street parking):



> 7x24 Ma t/m zondag, 24 uur per dag	€ 892,16
> Kantoor Ma t/m vrijdag, 07.00 - 19.00 uur	€ 623,40


Can you believe on this theft? € 892,16 per month! Never mind while big companies employing white-collar decent paying jobs fled the Canal Belt, leaving it to tourist-related and retail only business.

On this same parking lot, daily ticket cost € 50, 44min ticket costs € 4,00. That is almost € 0,10/minute. Fortunately, with the construction of a new subway line they will also add 1500 parking spaces there, which should drive these prices down.


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## Dase (Sep 6, 2009)

^ Your mixing things up, yet again. The big companies left because it was not possible to create the amount of offices they require as almost no space for vast office complexes is available within the canal belt.

The parking prices are as high as they are to prevent people from coming into the city with their cars to avoid clogging up the roads even more. That worked very good and there are very good alternatives, like the P+R system which is considered one of the best in Europe. Using them is cheaper and mich more time-effective (prime example is the Parking space at the Zuiderseeweg) than entering the city with the car.


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## World 2 World (Nov 3, 2006)

^^indeed. P+R is d best solution to park your car and u will get a return tram pass to d city for free.


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## Ni3lS (Jun 29, 2007)

The new trains



Hans ® said:


> Weet niet of ze hier al waren geplaatst, ik verwacht van wel maar vond niet zo snel. Kwam via Google tegen op wikipedia, http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metromaterieel_M5/M6
> 
> Een mock-up van de toekomstige metro:
> 
> ...


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## Ni3lS (Jun 29, 2007)

*N/Z Line: Station Ceintuurbaan*

Update by Wuppeltje



Wuppeltje said:


> Vorige week donderdag nog even station Ceintuurbaan bezocht. Meer progressie geboekt dan ik mij had voorgesteld. Aan de ene kant van het station zijn de voorzetwanden van 80cm bijna allemaal af, nu wordt er vooral gewerkt aan de andere kant met zo'n 40 mensen. Voor deze volgorde is gekozen omdat het station erg smal is en je dus snel elkaar in de weg zit.
> 
> 1. Rechts de westzijde en links de oostzijde. Links komen de liften en roltrappen. Je staat hier op het bovenste perron.
> 
> ...


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## Ni3lS (Jun 29, 2007)

*N/Z Line: Station Zuid*

Update by Mojito



Mojito said:


> En de kanaalplaten voor het te verbreden noordelijke perron zijn inmiddels geplaatst:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Ni3lS (Jun 29, 2007)

*N/Z Line: Central Station*

Update by the runner



the runner said:


> Er werd vandaag gebaggerd in de bouwput.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ I don't understand why are they building a new bust station on Amsterdam Centraal. The central area is served by trams already. They could terminate all the buses in periphery stations like Sloterdijk, Amstel, Bijlmer, Zuid... without buses going within the main central area. Then, they could free those bus lanes for cars.

With the new Noordzuidlijn, the case for buses running from Centraal Station to northern areas disappear also.


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## krulstaartje (Nov 4, 2010)

You're absolutely right (for once  ), but that is already the case. Amsterdam Centraal bus station is quite small compared to the bus stations at Utrecht Centraal, Nijmegen or Eindhoven, naming some random quite large Dutch bus stations I know, especially considering the difference in city and station size. The only buses terminating at CS are those that lack an alternative terminus, mostly from Westerpark, Noord, 'landelijk Noord' (Landsmeer, Edam, etc) & Zeeburg. I think the Noord-Zuidlijn will probably see some commuter peak time services disappear, yes. For the rest, these services will stay, and the new station isn't that huge, that is just the superstructure to make it look nice.


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## reinhart87 (Feb 12, 2006)

i thought (at least from my observation, i'm not Amsterdamer) that most buses that stop at Amsterdam Centraal Station are commuter buses to nearby cities and villages like Purmerend, Volendam, Edam, Hoofdorp, Zaandam, Amstelveen, etc. In that sense, i think it makes sense because these buses feed the passengers to the train and metro-tram network of Amsterdam


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

reinhart87 said:


> i thought (at least from my observation, i'm not Amsterdamer) that most buses that stop at Amsterdam Centraal Station are commuter buses to nearby cities and villages like Purmerend, Volendam, Edam, Hoofdorp, Zaandam, Amstelveen, etc. In that sense, i think it makes sense because these buses feed the passengers to the train and metro-tram network of Amsterdam


But as Suburbanist says, it would make more sense to send the buses to a metrostation at the edge of the city and feed the passengers to the public transport network of Amsterdam there, and keep the buses out of the inner city.
As far as i know, they are planning on doing this for some buses from the north (terminate them at Buikslotermeer).


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

Soon, end of this month, it will be possible for people to walk through the tunnel between Amsterdam Central Station and Rokin!


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## starsailor82 (Jul 23, 2007)

cool. where can we find information? or do you know when exactly it opens?


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

I don't have a exacte date yet.


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

starsailor82 said:


> cool. where can we find information? or do you know when exactly it opens?


Very soon it will be announced on the website of the Noord|Zuidlijn. For members of SSC on may 12 we have a tour in the first bored tunnel in Amsterdam. You can sign up here.


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## Momo1435 (Oct 3, 2005)

Here are my pictures from the very interesting tour in the new tunnel.

1. 









2.









3.









4.









5.









6. 









7.









8. 









9.









10.









11.









12. 









13.









14.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Some new artist's impressions of the Noord/Zuidlijn stations currently under construction are on display in the information centre. Quality is not really good as I had to photograph these impressions. They are bound to become available online though somewhere in the near future. If so, I (or someone else) will post them here.



Alargule said:


> Buikslotermeerplein:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*Unique tunneling operation underneath the Amsterdam CS historical building.* 

A whole metroplatform of the North/South Line immersed (–14.2 m) under the Amsterdam CS. 





















Momo1435 said:


> Mijn dank gaat wederom naar Wuppeltje en de Dienst Noord/Zuidlijn voor het regelen van perstoegang tot het ponton en Overhoeks. Ik heel veel foto's kunnen maken, hier een selectie met een paar worden .
> 
> 
> 1. Om 7 uur vanochtend was er nog weinig te merken wat er zou gaan gebeuren.
> ...


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## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

deasine said:


> Faregate Installation News:
> 
> Vancouver's system of fare gates and Compass Smartcards will be installed by Cubic, which has designed many large systems including London and San Francisco.
> 
> ...


Is there any plan to be installing barriers on the Amsterdam Metro like Vancouver intends doing?


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

trainrover said:


> Is there any plan to be installing barriers on the Amsterdam Metro like Vancouver intends doing?


Most Amsterdam Metro stations already have gates working, including all the underground ones. Those that don't have barriers have smartcard readers people are supposed to use instead of touching the cards on the gates. 

The barriers control enter and exit of the system, to calculate the proper fare. When you check-int, they withdraw € 4,00 from your smartcard (unless you have some travel pass). When you exit, the distance you traveled is calculated, therefore the fare, and your card is reimbursed between the difference of €4,00 - actual fare. 

This mean, theoretically, someone might enter the system fare-dodging in an open station, and then be not able to exit at a gated station. There are some videos on youtube of youngsters angry they can't exit gated stations


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## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

I just wondered if such installations be a worldwide trend, for that linked article claims Vancouver's own installation is to make its LRT network safer :sleepy:


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

trainrover said:


> I just wondered if such installations be a worldwide trend, for that linked article claims Vancouver's own installation is to make its LRT network safer :sleepy:


In the case of Amsterdam (and also in Rotterdam), this is part of a national trend to gating all major stations (train/subway) as a national smartcard was rolled in. Amsterdam Centraal already have fare gates in place, it is jut they are not activated yet (they allow you to just walk by still). 

This will severely reduce the need for employing conductors, which will save money.


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## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

Ah! so their rationales appear different than Vancouver's, which, additionally-speaking, is wrapping in some element of fear


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Progress at the back of the station. At the back of the station there is a busstation under construction with 24 busstops (6 normal busses, 18 stops for bendy busses). 360 meter long and 60 meter wide. Until the beginning of september they are working 24 hours, 7 days a week. At the end november this year 3/4 will be ready. In 2013 they are going to finish it. 1/4 will be done in 2013, because there is also a subway/metro line under construction (-2), a tunnel for cars (-1) and a new entrance under (0) the busstation (+1). These 4 levels have to be completed first in order to construct the last part of the roof. 












Rinius said:


> Foto's van vanavond:
> 
> Centraal Station by Marijn89, on Flickr
> 
> ...


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## Never give up (Apr 8, 2009)

Fantastic project and thanks for the excellent postings.
Are they going to connect metro line 50 with lines 51, 53 and 54 at the main station?
It would appear logical and it might even be visible in the background of this rendering.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Never give up said:


> Fantastic project and thanks for the excellent postings.
> Are they going to connect metro line 50 with lines 51, 53 and 54 at the main station?
> It would appear logical and it might even be visible in the background of this rendering.


No, that's not very logical as the demand for that connection is mostly met by the train from Sloterdijk to Centraal already.

It makes more sense to extend line 50 towards the future Johan van Hasseltweg in Noord to create new, previously non-existing connections.


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Never give up said:


> Fantastic project and thanks for the excellent postings.
> Are they going to connect metro line 50 with lines 51, 53 and 54 at the main station?
> It would appear logical and it might even be visible in the background of this rendering.


No, but it is possible to do that. At the underground part of the Central Station reservations have been made so that they can connect 50 with the excisting lines 51, 53 and 54 above the North/Southline.


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## rouke (Aug 10, 2011)

They also left the option open to connect the 'east' line(s) (53/54) to the North/southline if I'm not mistaken.

@Silly_walks:
Though it is more logical they will lenghten the 'ring-line' (nr. 50) towards Johan van Hasseltweg station as you said.

Making A connection @ Amsterdam Central would make sense when trouble is at hand near/on one of the underground stations of the 'east-line'; diverting the other metros via the 'ring-line' actually makes sense to me..
Using busline 59 as A 'metroservice' takes to many busses & clogs the streets from south-east Amsterdam towards Central station.

In An ideal world they would just make A seperate line underneath or next to existing lines for emergencies.:nuts:
Would cost A hefty load of cash though.

For those of you confused by line numbers or material see the links.

wikipedia lines Wikipedia Cars

Subway/Underground Map @ GVB.nl website (current lines without M52 also refered to as North/Southline)
Metro cars stats according to gvb.nl [Dutch]

Stats about PT in Amsterdam in English (gvb.nl)

Expansive info on cars (Dutch wikis) M1,2 & 3, S1 & 2, S3 & M4, M5

First pictures of M5 Cars being built by A Dutch news agency [site is A dutch local newspaper]
First posted by: Mojito


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

rouke said:


> Making A connection @ Amsterdam Central would make sense when trouble is at hand near/on one of the underground stations of the 'east-line'; diverting the other metros via the 'ring-line' actually makes sense to me..
> Using busline 59 as A 'metroservice' takes to many busses & clogs the streets from south-east Amsterdam towards Central station.


Going the long way round, all the way around Amsterdam, makes no sense in case of tunnel closure. The use of buses is only a temporary stop-gap measure to still get people to areas along the underground section of the Oostlijn. The people can't get there using the Ringlijn.
The use of buses isn't great, but in this case it is sufficient.

I still make the case that metro extensions should lead to more and new coverage and connections of the metro system.


----------



## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Silly_Walks said:


> I still make the case that metro extensions should lead to more and new coverage and connections of the metro system.


Like branching Noordzuidlijn to Amstelveen?


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> Like branching Noordzuidlijn to Amstelveen?


That's not a new connection, but one that needs an upgrade.


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## micro (Mar 13, 2005)

Line M55 project to go under the Ijmeer (=Ijsselmeer?): http://m55.nl/ (though I cannot find a proposed year of opening in the document).


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## micro (Mar 13, 2005)

A press release about M55 I've received refers to "the world’s first sail-and-ride station":


Press Release

Date: 27th September 2011

M55 consortium submits feasibility study for 20km rail connection in the eastern Amsterdam, Netherlands

The M55 consortium led by Mott MacDonald and including Baca Architects has submitted a feasibility study on behalf of the operating company Werkmaatschappij Almere-Amsterdam (WAA). The study was to assess the viability of a railway connection between Amsterdam-South and Almere-South Centre through the IJmeer Lake in the Netherlands.

Planned to support urban growth in eastern Amsterdam and in Almere, where over 25,000 new homes are planned, the new line will provide a fast and efficient connection between major developments planned for IJburg, phase 2 and Almere Pampus. 

As part of its proposal, the M55 consortium has designed a 20 km long connection from Diemen-Zuid to Almere Centrum, including a 9 km tunnel under IJburg and IJmeer. This will include five new stations, two underground and three above ground, with potential for further stations along the line. One of the underground stations, planned within IJburg phase 2, is set within a new canal and will provide facilities for boats to moor alongside to create the world’s first sail-and-ride station.

The material excavated from the construction of the new tunnel will be used to create a new island north of Pampus and a series of sand dunes and 'shallows' on the coast of Pampus for recreation and wildlife. The new development of Pampus has been planned around green and blue infrastructure, with the M55 line passing through a beautiful linear park in the centre of Almere.

The new island ‘Pampus IJland’ will include 3,000 homes, each one with a fantastic view over the lake or cove. The island will be formed around a sheltered cove - the ’eye’ - containing a new beach and moorings for yachts and floating homes. The island will be car free and instead, a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system has been suggested to provide high speed travel between the island and the facilities of the urban centre in Pampus. The island will be a pilot for sustainability off grid and off mains water supply, renewable power, rain water harvesting and recycling will provide for the inhabitants’ needs.

Martijn Donders, Mott MacDonald project manager commented: “From our initial innovative alternative outline design, to our now completed feasibility study, we have developed a strong business case for the new rail link. The project is attracting intense public and political interest and our proposal is extremely strong on crucial issues such as environmental impact, ease of use and integration into the urban landscape, and the economic benefit. Our solution also provides for phased implementation.”

Robert Barker, project architect at Baca Architect’s commented: “We have developed integrated landscape, architecture and public realm proposals along various sensitive waterside settings and tunnel portals. In addition we have developed spatial concepts for new homes in Almere Pampus and Pampus Island, and provided the designs for the sail and ride station.

The new M55 line will create a high-speed convenient connection between major new developments in Amsterdam and Almere, with an interesting journey for it’s passengers through several distinctive areas. The line will run along a green corridor and linear park from Almere to the new sand dunes and beach promenade on the coast. From the coast it will descend under the IJmeer lake, arriving at the new sail and ride station, at the centre of a Dutch canal. From here it will continue on, rising out of a landscaped wetland tunnel portal and over the Reinkanal on it’s way towards Amsterdam-South. The route has been very carefully considered to maximise passenger numbers, support new urban areas and preserve and enhance the waterside and water habitat.

The new island could be the Riviera or Amalfi of IJmeer and Amsterdam, a fantastic modern and sustainable destination, perfect for inhabitants with a love for water.”

Ends

Media Enquiries
Ruth Deans
Baca Architects
020 7939 0985
[email protected]

Tom Smith
Mott MacDonald
020 8774 2205
[email protected]

Images 
Project Phase 
Ref
Image description 
Copyright
Feasibility
M55-View-D (IJburg Station) cropped.jpg*
The world’s first sail and ride station in IJburg, part of a new metro line between Amsterdam and Almere.
Baca Architects
Feasibility
M55-Satellite-plan.jpg*
The new M55 line will connect Amsterdam with Almere via a 20km new connection, 9km under the IJmeer.
Baca Architects
(credit googlepro)
Feasibility
M55-Satellite-Pampus (300) F_DEF.jpg
Spatial plan for 22,000 new homes, organised around green and blue infrastructure.
Baca Architects
credit googlepro)
Feasibility
M55-Satellite-Pampus Island (300).jpg
A sustainable island for 3,000 homes will be formed from the spoil from the tunnel excavation.
Baca Architects
credit googlepro)
Feasibility
M55-View-E (Pampus Shoreline).jpg
A new shorefront, promenade and artificial beach dunes will created around the tunnel portal.
Baca Architects
Feasibility
M55-View-F-(Pampus centrum)
The new station for Almere Pampus will be wet within a public park and retail centre.
Zwarts and Jansma
Feasibility
M55-View-01.jpg
Concept view of the tunnel link below the IJmeer.
Baca 
Architects
NB * indicates preferred images 



About M55 Consortium
Mott MacDonald

Mott MacDonald is a global management, engineering and consulting firm, working in public and private sectors, with approximately 14,000 employees and a turnover of over 1.2 billion euros. We supply a wide range of services in the areas of transportation and infrastructure, water, environment, energy, buildings, oil & gas, industry, health and education, and are active in over 140 countries with offices in 40 countries. In the Netherlands we provide from our office in Arnhem creative solutions through a combination of local knowledge and expertise available worldwide. More information: www.mottmac.com

Baca Architects

Baca Architects is an international award-winning design agency, specializing in integrated water related and sustainable projects. Projects range from one-off houses to master planning and commercial projects. The agency is internationally recognized for its innovative solutions for architecture and planning in flood prone areas. See www.baca.uk.com.

MNO Vervat 

MNO Vervat designs, constructs, reconstructs and maintains infrastructure. Whether for roads, utility, earthwork, concrete, water or rail construction. MNO Vervat always looking for a creative, sustainable and economic solution. In addition, we take our social responsibility seriously. See www.mnovervat.nl.

HTM Consultancy

HTM Consultancy is an international service provider of public transport in the broadest sense and gives advice on the establishment and operation of public transport in the most effective and efficient way. The consultants are employed, managers and specialists in their field with extensive experience in urban and regional public transport. See www.htmconsultancy.nl.

Project & Process Consultancy

PC P & guides area development. By combining our broad substantive knowledge with our experience in development processes, manage and support through a development from start to finish. We will send the process and content, so that a vision is actually realized. Pragmatic and results oriented. More information: www.penpc.nl.

Economic Vision

Economic vision does economic research. This means that: investment and financial analysis, achieve cost efficiency, economic impact, complex grant applications. We work for companies, institutions and governments at home and abroad. Economic vision is for personal approach, quality and flexibility. See www.econovision.nl.

Balancia

Balancia is an innovative consulting firm that believes in the power of economic sustainability. We are consultants in sustainable mobility, especially in the areas of electrical mobility, public transport, cycling / walking, road safety and mobility in climate neutral cities. We have a policy advisor to governments (local and regional level), companies and multilateral organizations. We work in Europe, Asia and Africa. See www.balancia.com.

Zwarts & Jansma

Zwarts & Jansma Architects with their architecture to make a lasting contribution to the quality of life on our planet. The designs are imaginative and clearly structured, their ambiguous appearance aims to stimulate the senses. For more information: www.zwarts.jansma.nl.


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

Last friday i got the opportunity to visit a part of the tunneling shield of the North/South tunnel.


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## zwanneman2 (Aug 26, 2009)

micro said:


> Line M55 project to go under the Ijmeer (=Ijsselmeer?)


IJmeer and IJsselmeer are not the same.
The IJmeer is the south part of the Markermeer between Amsterdam and Almere and is named after the IJ bay of Amsterdam
The IJsselmeer is the lake north of the Markermeer and is named after the IJssel river.
See here

They are both spelled with IJ in stead of Ij


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

*Sharp increase in fares to make up budget cuts*

It is reported that fares will be raised sharply for urban transportation in Amsterdam provided by GVB. The kilometric fare, currently € 0,105, will be increased to € 0,135 to make up for funding reductions from the central government.

There is no word on increase on the basic use fare (€ 0,70) charged for everyone when using the system and allowing free transfers within 90 minutes.

I guess passes and subscriptions will be raised as well. But at the end of the day, all the end-of-the-World scenarios of cutting 6 of 16 tram lines and reducing subway frequencies by 30% proved to be fearmongering. They will raise fares and, AFAIK, cuts to services will be mostly incidental in light of some rationalization (like consolidating lines to increase frequency and facilitate transfers instead of focusing on one-seat rides).


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

The first M5-stock was shown to the press today!

http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/72037/dit-is-de-noord-zuidmetro


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Looks very good. I don't see many thing in the press though. Only in Metro and the local TV AT5.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

I love it! ^^

Here more impressions of the North/South line.

From South to North

Zuid station - no impressions.


*Europaplein station*



the heart said:


> Impressies:
> 
> Straatniveau
> 
> ...



*Ceintuurbaan station*



the heart said:


> Enkele impressies:
> 
> Verdeelhal
> 
> ...



*Vijzelgracht station*



the heart said:


>



*Rokin station*



the heart said:


> Impressies van Rokin



*Central Station*



the heart said:


>













*Johan van Hasseltweg station*



the heart said:


> Straatniveau
> 
> 
> 
> ...



*Buikslotermeerplein station*



the runner said:


> De nieuwste foto impressie van ons forumlid Alargule


Is there a way to put them in a spoiler? Or resize them?


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

As discussed in an other thread, i think the trains will have the same route information above the doors as in this video (from 1:25). You already see the dots.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Yeah, the dots are similar. However they will be placed in the current-style map.


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## IanCleverly (Nov 24, 2010)




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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

On the construction site of the North-South Line at one of the deep stations (Rokin). Currently they are excavating the head of the TBM which are in the ground 0,5 meter from the wall of station Rokin. A visit at -25 meter below streetlevel to see the head of Molly (one of the 4 TBM's used).


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Another station under construction, called the Vijzelgracht. This time even deeper. Around 30 meters deep.


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Vote for the nicest picture of the North/Southline (Subway U/C) here

Gravin by Tom Berdowski (aka Vliegtuigbouwert)


SSC during a visit of the North/Southline. This piece is 1 one of the 4 TBM's that have been used (2 others are still in use). The remains of this TBM will be excavated from the other side (in a station) with the expection of the shield. This method is called the lost shield method. 

The TBM's made 3902m out of the 6240m tunnel, so 62,54% has been completed.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

*Amsterdam metro is unsafe and should be closed: report*

A gloomy report on the safety standards of Amsterdam metro:



> The Amsterdam metro between central and Amstel stations is unsafe and will remain so until the tunnel and stations are renovated, city council engineers said on Tuesday.
> 
> This means the underground system should be closed down until improvement work is carried out, say the city council's safety and building supervisors following a risk assessment by the Arcadis civil engineering group.
> 
> ...


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> A gloomy report on the safety standards of Amsterdam metro:


Kinda weird that they NOW come to this conclusion, when works are already underway to improve the safety. It's like you're tying your shoe laces, and someone says "Hey! It's unsafe to have untied shoe laces... you should really tie them... but take them off until they are tied!".


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## Wuppeltje (Jan 23, 2008)

Rodalvesdepaula said:


> Is It possible to travel with bikes in Amsterdan subway-tram system?


In the subway now yes. Most likely they will be banned in the future if the new metro opens, because problably too many people will use it to cross the river IJ by taking the bike in the metro. For trams they are banned with the exception of line 26. This line is a fast tram line that connects the central station with a distant new residential area called IJburg.


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## Otazabi (Mar 3, 2013)

Some pictures that I took while I was in Amsterdam last summer:
A Siemens Combino tram towards Diemen Sniep:

A subway train at Centraal Station:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Old tram:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us


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## rouke (Aug 10, 2011)

Otazabi said:


> Some pictures that I took while I was in Amsterdam last summer:
> *snip snap*
> Old tram:
> 
> ...


Oké, lol that tram is really old, they are being used on sundays during daytime & you need A special (paper) ticket. (there's no ov-chipcard using there..)

I am not sure, but i believe that these trams are not operated during the winterseason or on sundays with harsh winds.

These _really_ old trams were once used by gvb, but are now operated by volunteers of the Amsterdam trammuseum.
Which is located -how very convenient- next to the biggest tramdepot in Amsterdam.
There even is A special -serviced- rail that connects the 2 in case the trammuseum gets A new erm.. old gvbtram.

The museum also does the maintenance on these trams if I am not mistaken.

GVB alows these old trams on the regular system.


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## Otazabi (Mar 3, 2013)

rouke said:


> Oké, lol that tram is really old, they are being used on sundays during daytime & you need A special (paper) ticket. (there's no ov-chipcard using there..)
> 
> I am not sure, but i believe that these trams are not operated during the winterseason or on sundays with harsh winds.
> 
> ...


Personally, I think it's a good idea to preserve those trams, it's part of the history of Amsterdam.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

The metro-tunnels underneath the city of Amsterdam are finished. In theory it's possible to walk 9.7 km along the North|South line.



















COMPILATION UPDATES

*Centraal Station*

Noord/Zuidlijn Nu&Straks Metrohal CS2 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Centraal-Station 20 januari-3 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Under the channel*

Invaren tunnel CS-6 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


tunnelelement 9 oktober-4 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Tunnel onder het IJ 28 februari-4 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station De Pijp*
*Two-platformdecks metro station*

Noord/Zuidlijn Artist Impression station De Pijp (perron) by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Passage boor Victoria station De Pijp by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


19 maart 2013 Uithijsen tijdelijke stempels-10 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Rokin*
*Including 5 parking decks*

Artist Impression Station Rokin Langsdoorsnede by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Bouw parkeergarage station Rokin by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Vanaf het parkeerdek Rokin een kijkje naar beneden waar de Noord/Zuidlijn komt te rijden by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Vijzelgracht*

Station Vijzelgracht: van ontwerp naar eindresultaat (zuidelijke verdeelhal) by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Station Vijzelgracht: van ontwerp naar eindresultaat (perron richting noorden) by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Bekisting voor de voorzetwanden in station Vijzelgracht by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Noord*

Station Noord artist impression 9 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Noord/Zuidlijn station Noord by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Europaplein*

Artist Impression station Europaplein perron by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Station Europaplein perron zuidelijke toegang by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Noorderpark*

Station Noorderpark artist impression 2 oud by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Noord/Zuidlijn station Noorderpark perron by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Station Zuid*
New station not designed yet.

Beethovenstraat_10maart-1 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Mr_Dru said:


> The metro-tunnels underneath the city of Amsterdam are finished. In theory it's possible to walk 9.7 km along the North|South line.
> 
> 
> COMPILATION UPDATES
> ...


You posted the old one! This is the new one  :









_Benthem Crouwel Architekten_

I also like this one of the central station, taken from the other side:

Noord/Zuidlijn Nu&Straks Metrohal CS1 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


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## timo9 (Oct 24, 2008)

:applause:


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*Tunnelwalk under the river IJ (from North to South)*

Sixhaven


Under the IJ-river (-20 under sea level)


under the new bus-station and autotunnel.


Central station






Looking north direction


Looking south direction


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## Falubaz (Nov 20, 2004)

^^ Still a lot work to do.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ Judging from the graffiti this isn't the first tunnel walk. 

Still, great to see progress!


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

Svartmetall said:


> ^^ Judging from the graffiti this isn't the first tunnel walk.
> 
> Still, great to see progress!


It's true, the tunnel with the graffiti is North Amsterdam and this part of the tunnel is finnished a long time ago. This part was easy to construct because its built in nobodies land and not under the historical center of Amsterdam.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*First brand new metro in service.*

The new Alstom Metropolis will eventually replace the 35 year old metro's.






















Source: http://www.ovnieuws.info/2013-06-26...nstrit_met_de_nieuwe_metro_van_Amsterdam.html


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The bus and tram shelters have been replaced.

New









New vs. old









http://amsterdamstreetfurniture.wordpress.com/


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Source
Nice future image, albeit not totally correct.


M5 in de tunnel bijna bij CS by lhb-777, on Flickr, on Flickr
Metro in tunnel at Central Station by Patrick van Britsom.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Another one, at Rokin.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Picture update time
All photos are from the Noordzuidlijn/Dienst Metro website
Ordered from older to newer;











De voetgangerstunnel onder het Stationsplein by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

They have started investigating the possibilities of rebuilding a direct passage from the Central Station hall to the new metro hall. (it was originally built from the station hall to the other side of the road in front of the station that had busy traffic)

















New floodgates in the tunnel at the IJ-side of Central Station

This is what an East Line extention would look like:








One track would go right through the North-South Line hall, right above the escalators.

















Paving machine started working on the floor for the tracks. A contest winner got to name it Paverotti.(lol)

Work being done on:








1,2)New quays and fencing
3)New sluice floor under the Nieuwe Brug (New Bridge)
4)Opening of the bridge for boat traffic on November 7th 2013 (mainly used for canal boats)
5)Demolition of working platform and 6) the other bridge

















Drawings of the possible future Sixhaven station, with possibilities for a line extention going northwest towards Zaanstad. (Click here for a PDF file with bigger and more drawings)









Works going on at the future entrance of De Pijp station.








1







2 
Temporary structure to support the roof in the 4 story parking garage above the De Pijp station(1), which will finally all be replaced by these new wall collumns(2).









Finishing the quay around the emergency exit at Damrak (right across Central Station).









August 2013 vs. December 2013 at Muntplein.









First ceiling panels are going up at the new metro ticket hall, entrance still under construction.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

What is the status of the southern extension of Noordzuidlijn towards Schiphol?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

0%


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ Not even a plan to start excavating after they open the 1st sector?

I once read about some plans to create a sub-lake line with even a station in Pampus Eijland on the way to Almere as well.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> What is the status of the southern extension of Noordzuidlijn towards Schiphol?


The status is that it would be a waste of money. There are already train tracks parallel to that proposed metro line.

Extending the metro towards Amstelveen, replacing the (future) tramlines there, makes much more sense.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

MiaM said:


> "This time, we'll build public transport for middle class people"?...


 A lot of the middle class workers in Amsterdam goes to work by bike and public transport. To go by car or taxi's are not always very convenient to go work in the Amsterdam inner highwaycircle. A lawyer in suit on a bike or moped is very common in Amsterdam.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Mr_Dru said:


> A lot of the middle class workers in Amsterdam goes to work by bike and public transport. To go by car or taxi's are not always very convenient to go work in the Amsterdam inner highwaycircle. A lawyer in suit on a bike or moped is very common in Amsterdam.


Yes, my point is that the picture looks like "almost only for the middle class"...


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

*Update*

As always from North to South.

Construction of the station canopy at *Noord* station has been halted. The steel frame construction (you can see it at the top of this page) supposedly isn't stiff enough so it's been sagging a bit and the glass panels won't fit/will remain in one part for long. Or something like that. 

Meanwhile they have been installing the third rail.















Expantion joints:



















At *Central Station* they're installing the escalators and lifts:


Roltrappen Ruijterkade Amsterdam Centraal by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Roltrappen Ruijterkade Amsterdam Centraal by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr



















They've finished the western part of the bus station and are finishing the rest of it to look the same:



















Works also continue on the faregate-free shopping 'passages'

Now:

Amsterdam Centraal Westtunnel in aanbouw by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Future:









And the connecting shopping area under the bus station from where you'll also be able to enter the metro station

Now:

Amsterdam Centraal IJ-hal by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Future:











Paverotti making its way through *Rokin* station.












For *Vijzelgracht* station contest winning artist Marjan Laaper has been testing her art installation. It's a light installation with white glass and LED lighting fixtures behind them drawing metro maps of Ramses Shaffy's life.

The Mock-up:









What it will look like:
52526557

Soon the above-ground work site will be dismantled and be given back to the city. So now they're finishing off the entrances:




















At De Pijp station they have erected the roof structures for the station entrances, which will be the base for the houses on top of it:


Bouw toegang station De Pijp by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Bouw toegang station De Pijp by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

They've also dismantled the two portal cranes dominating the street for years:


Afbreken portaalkraan Ferdinand Bolstraat by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

In the station itself they have been touching up and painting stuff:


Station De Pijp by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


Station De Pijp by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr



At *Europaplein* station they're already mounting the wall panels


Station Europaplein by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr, on Flickr





MiaM said:


> Yes, my point is that the picture looks like "almost only for the middle class"...


I have no idea what you're on about, and I'm not sure If I even wanna know.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

Updates new busterminal + busplatform Amsterdam Centraal Station

- 250 meters long
- 22 busstops
- Taxi's
- Kiss and Ride
- Ferry/Boats
- Shops/restaurants
- Autotunnel 2x2






















Impressions


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## tunnel owl (May 19, 2013)

MrAronymous said:


> Meanwhile they have been installing the third rail.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Aluminium third-rail and expansion-joints, nice stuff. Congratulations for Amsterdam-Metro chosing justable third-rail-suspensions. It makes installation and maintainment much easier. Also isolators get not broken that fast, because stresses from thrid rail are not part of the current-isolator. The isolator has not to support the rail and justage is quite easy. I can´t understand why anyone would construct something different. Nearly 100 years of third-rail operation lead to the conclusion, that this is the best suspension ever, if current is collected from below.

One question please: What about the Ijtram line 26. What it be possible to integrate this line into the new bus-station at Amsterdam Central?

Kind regards


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

tunnel owl said:


> One question please: What about the Ijtram line 26. What it be possible to integrate this line into the new bus-station at Amsterdam Central?
> 
> Kind regards


In my opinion, they should extend sneltram 26 to Zeehelden area. 

It would be even better to convert it to a full heavy rail all the way linking with Isolatorweg.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

I don't think the IJburg tram will change much in the future apart from new rolling stock. If there will be a metro connecting through IJburg it will be a new link coming from the west.



Mr_Dru said:


> -


Don't forget to mention the source.

I didn't mention my source previously because all the pictures belong to Dienst Metro and I already mentioned that before.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

MrAronymous said:


> If there will be a metro connecting through IJburg it will be a new link coming from the west.


No, it would be coming from Diemen-Zuid.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Silly_Walks said:


> No, it would be coming from Diemen-Zuid.


So coming from the west.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

I don't understand why haven't they built tram line 26 as a heavy subway anyway. It runs almost on new development areas, it has all space it needs short of a small tunnel that would be needed near Amsterdam CS. That would have given IJburg a world-class transportation link, instead of a half-baked tram line.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

MrAronymous said:


> So coming from the west.


South-West, maybe.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> I don't understand why haven't they built tram line 26 as a heavy subway anyway. It runs almost on new development areas, it has all space it needs short of a small tunnel that would be needed near Amsterdam CS. That would have given IJburg a world-class transportation link, instead of a half-baked tram line.


It is actually a really good tram line. Abroad they might even call it an LRT.
For now, it has more than enough capacity (and there is an option to ride with coupled trams still). IJburg hasn't yet been completed, and the altered plans probably mean it will never have the amount of inhabitants originally planned.

When I had to vote for or against IJburg, they told me it was going to have a tram line to Centraal Station and a metro that would connect at Diemen-Zuid.

They never came through on that promise - at least not for now. It might still have the metro in the future, if IJburg 2 gets the population level that would warrant the Diemen-Zuid - IJburg metro extension.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

After the first metro line opened, the plans for the _stadsspoor_ (city rail, aka metro) were changed, because there were huge demonstrations and neighbourhoods had gotten demolished. The word metro had become taboo. In the 80s/90s the plan was to build a_ sneltram_ (light rail) network, which can be seen here:



Alargule said:


>


The Amstelveen sneltram is the only one which got built. The Green part towards Isolatorweg actually got built in the 90s to sneltram standards (wider platforms, narrower cars) but they narrowed the platforms and renamed it metro last minute. They also already built a section of sneltram tunnel near Central Station for the light rail towards IJburg. Here's a visual:










And here's some more info (in Dutch) and construction pics.

They decided to not go with it and just put a normal tram there though. With the construction of the new bus station and car tunnel the tunnel segment became obsolete. So if you'd want an underground station now.. I have no idea where you could put it.

@ Suburbanist; I guess the demand isn't high enough. And a future metro connection running west-east towards Almere could also serve those on Haveneiland (be it via the IJtram connection).



Silly_Walks said:


> South-West, maybe.


Whatever dude.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

When the new Noordzuidlijn opens, will they abolish the tram #5 to Amstelveen, leaving only the metro 51 in place?

That way, they can fill up the "dual height" platforms, an aberration, and unify the ticketing/OV-chipkaart policy with gates (as in the rest of metro).


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Well no, 51 will be tramified.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

Suburbanist said:


> When the new Noordzuidlijn opens, will they abolish the tram #5 to Amstelveen, leaving only the metro 51 in place?
> 
> That way, they can fill up the "dual height" platforms, an aberration, and unify the ticketing/OV-chipkaart policy with gates (as in the rest of metro).


I know the answer to that question, but I'm going to answer you because...

1: you keep on asking questions
2: people make an effort to supply you with an answer
3: you never answer back to those people. They don't even get as much as a like
4: Google yourself!


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Suburbanist said:


> I don't understand why haven't they built tram line 26 as a heavy subway anyway. It runs almost on new development areas, it has all space it needs short of a small tunnel that would be needed near Amsterdam CS. That would have given IJburg a world-class transportation link, instead of a half-baked tram line.


spot on


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

In what way would Ijburg get better transportation if the rail transportation were metro instead of todays light rail?

There are no real difference in speed, acceleration e.t.c. between modern trams and most metro trains. As long as the trams don't have to wait for other traffic or have speed limits due to cheap infrastructure the travel times are comparable.


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## Road_UK (Jun 20, 2011)

MiaM said:


> In what way would Ijburg get better transportation if the rail transportation were metro instead of todays light rail?
> 
> *There are no real difference in speed*, acceleration e.t.c. between modern trams and most metro trains. As long as the trams don't have to wait for* other traffic or have speed limits* due to cheap infrastructure the travel times are comparable.












VERSUS










Basically you got it wrong on all points. Another word for "tram" is "streetcar" - which means it mingles with other traffic. 

Although I do fail to see how someone from Rotterdam and Tilburg could possibly know what's best for Amsterdam...


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

IJburg just doesn't have the population to warrant metro. The mostly segregated tram they got is more than enough for now.

If IJburg 2 gets built, with high densities, a metro can always be extended from Diemen-Zuid.


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Road_UK said:


> I would hate to see the precious Dutch countryside that surrounds Amsterdam and connecting cities being filled with horrible modern Dutch architecture in order to house even more immigrants - which is what you have been proposing for a long time.


Nothing precious about that _countryside_ surrounding Amsterdam.




Road_UK said:


> It's not really growing though. It's shrinking.


Check your facts.

It isnt.
Actually it s growing with 70.000 inhab a year.
Wich is too slow for me, anyway.

You want to put all these people in the countryside?



Road_UK said:


> It has already, and indeed one of the finest in the world


One of the prettiest, but way too small AND lacking high class transportation links (apart from a decent airport) both within the city and between other cities.



Road_UK said:


> Which is what they are doing in Rotterdam. Result: empty office blocks.


Government is not doing anything in Rotterdam. And thats part of the problem. Yes.


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## Yak79 (Nov 28, 2013)

Suburbanist said:


> ...
> This is why more subways are needed in Amsterdam, only subways can transport passengers in a fast way.
> ...


This kind of statement echoes here and there in every public transport forum, but nevertheless it couldn’t be less true: unless you're speaking about a very large or spread out city, speed (neither average nor commercial) won't be an important parameter in transport planning. From users point of view, the matter is how much time they need for reach their destination: it's true that compared to trams, commercial speed for metros are about double, but

in a dense urban structure (typical European cities) movements are relatively slow, regardless which transport mode you use (private car is the touchstone);
a tram/light rail with at grade route into the road and stops every 400/600 m (*) need an half of average walking time or less than a complete segregate metro with stops every 900/1200 m *and a more or less long path into the station which bring you to the train platform* (downstairs in the tunnel, upstairs to the viaduct or at side, if the segregated ROW is at grade);
once the passenger gets there, he'll have to wait a train, and maybe one transfer (or more) are needed, so you have to add total waiting time - frequencies don't depend on type of public transport and may also be lower for a metro (for the same global capacity, a metro train carries more passengers than a tramcar);
in a small/medium sized compact city, average journey distance is rather short, so even a not negligible difference in speed results in a small amount of time
.
A planner who refers only to on-board speed and consequently decides to built a metro line without an adequate transport demand (at least more than 10.000 pass/h for a sensible percentile of service hours) could probably waste a fair amount of money (1 km of metro ≥ 3 km of tram, in term of construction costs) gaining less than a minute as actual average time saving for each journey.

(*) From this point of view, you can't count the 2 km distance between _Rietlandpark_ and _Zuiderzeeweg_, with a 1,9 km long tunnel under the water, so tram 26 scores approximately 810 m per stop: an impressive figure for a tram, anyway.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

A lot of extreme views here.

I tend to be more in the middle. Yes, I think Amsterdam needs more metro lines (or more exact, extension of existing lines), but no, I don't think line 26 is a "half-baked tram line". For tram standards it's actually a very good one. It has a higher average speed than even certain subway lines in Paris, for example. For the short distance to Centraal Station it's more than fast enough, and capacity is adequate and can be expanded.

I do think it can be improved by "fixing" some of the level crossing on Zeeburgereiland (mostly an improvement to car traffic, though), and I do worry the line will get slower if the new stop on Zeeburgereiland or in the Piet Heintunnel is added, even though I understand the use of these stops.

I also think the metro from Diemen-Zuid to IJburg should be built if they start making the new islands and start building in high density there, but I don't think they should build the metro right now to have it stop on an empty bit of quicksand.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Yak79 said:


> [*]a tram/light rail with at grade route into the road and stops every 400/600 m (*) need an half of average walking time or less than a complete segregate metro with stops every 900/1200 m *and a more or less long path into the station which bring you to the train platform* (downstairs in the tunnel, upstairs to the viaduct or at side, if the segregated ROW is at grade);


Generally with metro systems that run from the inner city to the periphery, distance between stops is lower in the center. You can see this with the Oostlijn where the distance between Centraal, Nieuwmarkt and Waterlooplein is far lower than the distances in Zuid-Oost.

Personally I see the longer path to the subway as a positive in cold, rainy Amsterdam. I'd rather walk downstairs a minute extra and wait 6 minutes comfortably and dry for a metro than wait 4 minutes for a tram in the freezing wind and rain. :lol:


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

^^ That movements are slow doesn't mean they should be slow. Amsterdam is part of a wider metro area which is tucked into the polycentric urban agglomeration of "Randstad". It needs fast connections, else it is faster to travel between Amsterdam and Rotterdam central cores than between two neighborhoods split by the IJ. 

Your observation about time used on stairs or ramps is only much relevant for very short trips. But very short trips (< 1,5 km) in Amsterdam and Netherlands as whole face tough competition from bicycles anyway. 

The debate between stop spacing and total travel time is also contentious. Arguable, over time, especially with rather high-cost fixed access infrastructure like highway exits, subway stations, airports, patterns of housing and business adapt to their presence, which reduces the effect of longer spacing. I don't expect Amsterdam to allow high-rises near Rokin station, but maybe Europaplein and De Pijp would see this effect if upward construction was allowed on their vicinity.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

When these last saw commercial tram service?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Never. Catenary wires haven't even been installed.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> When these last saw commercial tram service?


The urban legend is the city wanted a bus lane, but could only get subsidies for a tram lane, so they put in tram tracks just to get the subsidies.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Yak79 said:


> (*) From this point of view, you can't count the 2 km distance between _Rietlandpark_ and _Zuiderzeeweg_, with a 1,9 km long tunnel under the water, so tram 26 scores approximately 810 m per stop: an impressive figure for a tram, anyway.


This distance is on the other hand what really can give a fast travel time.

P.S. if you actually want faster travel times on line 26 you could realign the tracks at centraal station so the line doesn't have to loop around Prins Hendrikkaade, and also align the tracks so the line has one stop nearby it's current place (Oostzijde) and also a stop nearby the other tram stops (Westzijde). But that would probably not be fancy enough...


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## Yak79 (Nov 28, 2013)

Nothing in my post can be blamed as “extreme”: I spoke in general, pointing out that single line speed isn't a significant parameter when you evaluate a public transport system (planned or existing): obviously any increase of global average commercial speed (= for the whole system) is a good thing, but this has far more to do with operational costs than with travel times. Now I'll try to explain my statement with a practical example (maybe a little gross, but suitable to clarify my speech) - data are from previous posts and GVB site: 

*Data*
tram 26: line length 8,3 km, speed 23,6 km/h, total travel time (between terminus) 21', departures every 6' during weeekdays
average Amsterdam metro: speed 35,4 km/h, departures every 10' during weekdays

*1.*
tram → 21'
metro (estimated) → 14'
theoretical difference 7' = 33% of saving​ 
*2.*
tram → 21' + 3' (average waiting time) = 24'
metro → 14' + 5' (average waiting time) + 1' (path into the stations)= 20'
factual difference 4' = 17% of saving​*3.*
Not all journey are from _Centraal Station_ to _Ijburg_, if you assume public transport isn't used under 1,5 km you could take 4,9 km as average mileage
tram → 12,5' + 3' = 15,5'
metro → 8,3' + 5' + 1' = 14,3'
average difference 1' 12'' = 7% of saving​ 
When you think that not all destination are near a tram stop or a metro station and that some passengers use more than a line to reach their destination, you'll have to sum also an esteem of walking time, interchange waiting and further travel time: even if you conjecture that those times are the same in tram and metro set-up and therefore 1' 12'' difference doesn't change, nevertheless the average saving rate will be lower (likely less than 5%).
Obviously you can modify data in a way that nullify this results, and this specific example could stumble in some local peculiarity I'm not aware, but this is the way things go in general situations and for this reason the statement “metro is a better choice because is faster than tram” is scientifically nonsensical (although metro, per se, are almost always faster).


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Yak79 said:


> Nothing in my post can be blamed as “extreme”


You should look at the times our posts were made. I was typing while you made your post. I quite obviously was not referring to your post.


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## tunnel owl (May 19, 2013)

Silly_Walks said:


> Personally I see the longer path to the subway as a positive in cold, rainy Amsterdam. I'd rather walk downstairs a minute extra and wait 6 minutes comfortably and dry for a metro than wait 4 minutes for a tram in the freezing wind and rain. :lol:


 I would prefer biking if it´s not raining, if speed of tram is really that incredible slow in average as mentioned here.


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Yak79 said:


> Now I'll try to explain my statement with a practical example
> tram 26: line length 8,3 km, speed 23,6 km/h, total travel time (between terminus) 21', departures every 6' during weeekdays
> average Amsterdam metro: speed 35,4 km/h, departures every 10' during weekdays


You are skewing the comparison. Why should a tram have more departures than a metro? 
A metro would certainly enable and induce high density developments after some time. 
Safe to assume that in the end metrolines do have more departures.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Magistraler said:


> You are skewing the comparison. Why should a tram have more departures than a metro?
> A metro would certainly enable and induce high density developments after some time.
> Safe to assume that in the end metrolines do have more departures.


It also means metro makes it possible for more distant areas to thrive. For instance, Hollendrecht and Zuidost are within easy commute trips to major employment centers. If mere trams served those areas, everybody living there would take twice the time to get to/from home every day. As Amsterdam is an expensive place to live, metro helps make more distant suburbs affordable for families on lower and middle income range (upper income ones can afford the prices, students and young single can share apartments).


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## Yak79 (Nov 28, 2013)

Magistraler said:


> You are skewing the comparison. Why should a tram have more departures than a metro?
> A metro would certainly enable and induce high density developments after some time.
> Safe to assume that in the end metrolines do have more departures.


Ten minute headway is what now all metro lines in Amsterdam offer, as well as six minute is the real headway for tram line 26: I'm only assuming that an hypothetical Ijburg line should have nothing more than existing metros; I don't think this is “skewing the comparison”, unless you believe Amsterdam transport authorities deliberately avoided to built a metro along the highest patronage corridor in the city (rather fetched opinion, IMHO).
The reason behind the headway apparent oddity is simple: a metro train is far more capacious than a tramcar (an LHB trainset carries 900/1200 passengers, a CAF trainset 750/1000, new M5 trains 960; a Combino tram used on line 26 only 180)*, so with an identical starting transport demand, even if you account metro ability to attract more users and further development effects, the metro set-up couldn't have the same hourly departures as the existing tram (or more); for whose sake GVB should have trains circulate half empty?
Moreover, in an European city high density developments aren't that much relevant: metro lines 53 and 54, opened in 1977, show some overcrowding only now, yet with departures every 10'. 

* source Wikipedia, LHB and CAF trainset are formed by 3 or 4 cars depending on which line they serve.




Suburbanist said:


> ... Hollendrecht and Zuidost are within easy commute trips to major employment centers. If mere trams served those areas, everybody living there would take twice the time to get to/from home every day.
> ...


Even if you ignore all my remarks persisting to use commercial speed in order to calculate commuters travel time, our case demonstrate that a tram could have two third of metro speed: it's not fair downgrading it only for emphasize your point of view


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Yak79 said:


> I'm only assuming that an hypothetical Ijburg line should have nothing more than existing metros; ...


This hypothetical IJburg line would have the capacity to unlock a residential area between CS and Almere (IJburg I, II, III and IV) with 250.000 inhabitants in 2050. Not even counting with Almere where it would have some stations as well.
Moreover, this same IJburg line should get a westbound leg to connect with outlying expansions of Amsterdam.


I appreciate your traveltime calculations, but you are missing quite a few variables into the equation.



Yak79 said:


> unless you believe Amsterdam transport authorities deliberately avoided to built a metro along the highest patronage corridor in the city


Constructing a metroline in Amsterdam is a highly politically charged process. I wouldnt count too much on technologically desirable (transport wise) variables as far as the political decision making of the authorities is concerned. 



Yak79 said:


> .... even if you account metro ability to attract more users and further development effects, the metro set-up couldn't have the same hourly departures as the existing tram ...


untrue

In the end you could run a train every 1min40 through the tubes.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

One issue I never understood is why does GVB keep a conductor on trams?

Dutch labor costs are quite expensive, and I can't fathom a reason for a conductor to be present on trams, on this and age of OV-Chipkaart.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> One issue I never understood is why does GVB keep a conductor on trams?
> 
> Dutch labor costs are quite expensive, and I can't fathom a reason for a conductor to be present on trams, on this and age of OV-Chipkaart.


If you had been here when there wasn't a conductor, you would have understood.

The honor system did not work in Amsterdam trams, to put it mildly, and having everybody pass by the driver would cause too much time wasted at stops.


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## Yak79 (Nov 28, 2013)

Magistraler said:


> ...
> I appreciate your traveltime calculations, but you are missing quite a few variables into the equation.
> ...


You're somewhat missing the point of my whole posting here: the statement I'm trying to demonstrate it's improper is “they should have built a metro (only) because metros are faster” - I'm going to say this for the last time -: it's a blunder widespread at all latitudes I hoped to thwart a little.
For that purpose, I started with some general assessment and then with a numerical example, for which I chose the Ijburg line case only for practical reasons - most of the data are directly available on this thread - but I could have picked up another random city elsewhere; as I cleared in my previous post, the calculation validity is restricted by assuming the state-of-art as a base (aka “_rebus sic stantibus_”), so I deliberately discarded local context specificity (which besides I didn't know). At any rate, you're speaking about a development that will attract/relocate something nearly ⅓ of Amsterdam municipal population (⅙ if you consider metropolitan area): an occurrence so enormous would have a bomb-like impact on whole transport system. I'm not sure in which mean you used “unlock”:

literally, i. e. you think this development will happen no matter what, but without a metro it'll be left secluded from the city center - in this case they should have build a metro due to capacity issues;
figuratively, i. e. you think this development is on the verge of happen and a metro could be the right catalyst in order to start it - in this case they might have built a metro due to its higher TrIG (transportation-related induced growth) potential and you're complaining they didn't;
either way, however, speed is only a minor feature in the overall framework.



Magistraler said:


> ... untrue
> 
> In the end you could run a train every 1min40 through the tubes.


If the scenery you're speaking about occur, travel time cut will be the effect of, and not the reason behind, a tighter schedule (the astounding headway you pointed out would be justified by an occurred/expected patronage rising and not by time saving purposes).

In the end, nothing in what you wrote impinge with my point of view (thought your arguments invalidate this specific numerical example): if the initial statement had been “they should have built a metro in order to deal with/stimulate Ijburg development”, I wouldn't have objected, neither in principle, because those (capacity and, to a lesser extent, TrIG effects) are scientifically valid factors in transport planning, nor in substance, because I don't know Amsterdam enough to evaluate your assertions about Ijburg development.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)




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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Dwell time at tram stops could already be reduced by a great deal if there would be no more on board ticket sales. Especially in a city like Amsterdam, where tourists form a large target group for traveling by tram. Move ticket sales to hotels, supermarkets or open up a large ticket booth at the major train stations. Maybe you could even install ticket machines at the larger tram stops.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Alargule said:


> Maybe you could even install ticket machines at the larger tram stops.


Leidseplein, Rembrandtplein, Museumplein come to mind.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

It would be good if it were possible to pre-order OV-chipkaart to your home even if you don't live in the Netherlands.

It would also be good if it were possible to actually pay for top-ups or day cards with foreight debit/credit cards in all OV-chipkaart machines.

I somehow understand tourists that just pay whatever it costs when they board the tram because it takes some time to get correct tickets when you travel to some place that doesn't have the same ticket system you've already used. If you visit the Netherlands for the first time (since OV-chipkaart) you have to buy an OV-chipkaart, top up and/or load prepaid days on the card, and also possible set the prefered NS travel class if you plan to travel by NS rail.

IMHO the OV-chipkaart system seems to work better than most other similar systems, but it's still not perfect and that imperfection is one reason for tourist paying cash on board the tram.

My own experiences from last summer (visiting den Haag, Rotterdam and Amsterdam) was:
1) We lost €1/person by not knowing that it had been cheaper buying our OV-chipkaarts from the RET machine at den Haag CS instead of buying the cards from the HTM manual service.
2) There were rather long queues at the HTM manual service at den Haag CS
3) It wasn't possible to use the small yellow automatic machines in den Haag with foreign debit/credit cards.
4) Illogically to our surprise it actually was possible to use foreign debit/credit cards in the same kind of machines in Amsterdam and also in the large machines in the metro stations in Rotterdam (and probably in Amsterdam). Not knowing this cost us €3/person having to pay cash to the driver on a HTM tram one day just to get us from the hotel to HTM manual service. On the day before our day cards expired HTM closed rather early (sunday) and we expected that the yellow machine near the hotel would work with our cards. If we had known that our cards didn't work in the yellow machine and that we could use our cards in the RET machine at den Haag CS we could atleast had topped up our cards with the RET machine and thus saved ~€1:50/person and saved time for all travelers on the tram by not having to pay to the driver.
5) The large automatic machines at Amsterdam metro stations has a different set of product compared to the small yellow machines in Amsterdam. (You have to use the yellow machines to load a 7-day card on your chipkaard, the large machines can only load 1/2/3-day cards or something similar).
6) The english translation of the options on the small yellow automatic machines were incomplete. The details in my memory is a bit fuzzy but I think there were no text for the options to buy 4/5/6/7-day cards if you selected english (or german, if that were an option?). Luckily dutch is similar enough to the languages I know so I could use the machine in dutch even though I don't speak dutch.

(I know this is'n entirely Amsterdam related, but it's the same OV-chipkaart system).

The really sad thing is that we are rather happy with this result as it's a far better track record than our experiences from other similar system. (In London something always seem to go wrong in a worse way and if you try to correct it everyone at the service counters redirects you somewhere else - in the end you get a phone numer that cost you money and time to dial. At home in the Gothenburg area it's been rather common that the chip card system overcharge you).

For a foreign visistor the rather high price for OV-chipkaart is also a barrier that can make it cheaper to pay cash on board on the tram. It would be nice if there were some kind of refund system. Also the time it takes to in advance calculate which option is cheapest can also be a barrier. In our case using anonymous OV-chipkaard were a bit cheaper and simpler than just buying one-time paper day cards, mostly because HTM didn't sell 2/3-day cards as one-time paper cards and because we used the prepay feature a bit.

To sum it up: I'm not surprised at all that foreign visitors use cash to pay on board on the trams. Howevere I'm surprised if dutch people use cash.


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## Antje (May 29, 2009)

*M53* – Gaasperplas

Amsterdam Metro Metromaterieel M3 3B "Zilvermeeuw" at Gaasperplas by κύριαsity, on Flickr


Amsterdam Metro Metromaterieel M3 2A "Zilvermeeuw" at Gaasperplas by κύριαsity, on Flickr

Metros I have visited so far is now as follows:
London (since late-1980s), Athens (2012), Paris (2013–2014), Barcelona (2014) and now Amsterdam (2015).


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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...n-amsterdam-north-south-line.html?channel=525
> 
> *First test train on Amsterdam North-South Line*
> Monday, April 27, 2015
> ...


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

*Update*



> *Amsterdam to replace diesel buses with electric vehicles*
> 
> April 15, 2015 Amsterdam will become the first city in the country to run a fully electric bus fleet, following agreement between the city council and city bus firm GVB. The first batch of 40 buses will be replaced by electric vehicles in two years’ time, the Volkskrant reports, and by 2025 the entire fleet will be electric. The ferries over the IJ between the city centre and Noord will also be powered by green electricity.


*Noord*

Some testing took place on the above-ground section, where systems were tested. The third rail isn't entirely finished yet, and also not yet live, so the metro train was pulled/pushed along by a remote controlled electric vehicle.





 





eerste testrit Metro op Noord-Zuidlijn-4 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Also some high-quality interior renderings of Noord station have been released. You can find them here.


Station Noord artist impression 11 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

 
Station Noord artist impression 10 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Station Noord artist impression 2 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*Central Station*

The area on the other side of the water on top of the tunnel has been given its final look.

 
Noord-Zuidlijn verlaat Sixhaven-8 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Noord-Zuidlijn verlaat Sixhaven-4 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Escalators have been delivered and the interior work has progressed.

  
Per roltrap naar de kathedraal onder CS-7 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Per roltrap naar de kathedraal onder CS-11 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


CS-rondje-centrale hal-30 april-11 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

^ You can see the structure that will hold the wall paneling and the public art video screen. Here's a rough preview of the artwork:






 
CS-rondje-centrale hal-30 april-9 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | CS-rondje-centrale hal-30 april-8 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

 
CS-rondje-centrale hal-30 april-3 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | CS-rondje-centrale hal-30 april-23 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

On that last picture you can see the end of the hallway that connects the East Line with the North/South Line. 

And a follow-up on the pictures posted on this page about the shopping concourses. This is a little video in Dutch talking about them. In the final shots you get a sneak preview of the almost finished faregate-free passages;






*Rokin*

Progress has been made on the parking garage and station fireproofing.

 
Station-Rokin-10 april-3 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Station-Rokin-10 april-6 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

 
Rokin 18 maart-16 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Station-Rokin-10 april-17 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Three design proposals for the fountain on Rokin street level have been made public.

*Vijzelgracht*

Bridge across the canal has been restored, street level construction sites continue to be dismantled.


Vijzelgracht maakt comeback-6 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

*De Pijp*

No big news, just some nice new shots.

Level -1

 
Station De Pijp op haar paasbest-25 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Station De Pijp op haar paasbest-2 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Level -2: Upper platform. Mezanine above, platform for southbound trains below (see room for escalators along the wall).


Station De Pijp op haar paasbest-8 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

Level -3


Station De Pijp op haar paasbest-16 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr



*Europaplein*

From all stations along the line this one will be finished first. Right now they're still installing ceilings and floors.

 
[url=https://flic.kr/p/s74utT]Europaplein 20 april-24 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | [/url]Europaplein 20 april-16 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

 
Europaplein 20 april-6 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Europaplein 20 april-8 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr

 
Europaplein 20 april-22 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr | Europaplein 20 april-2 by Noord/Zuidlijn, on Flickr


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## skyshakernowlive (May 12, 2015)

I've always supported reducing labor on transit by any means possible. I think they should just install CCTV and introduce barriers.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Ummm yes. Just as they exactly did eight years ago...


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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...launches-tender-for-63-trams.html?channel=529
> 
> *Amsterdam launches tender for 63 trams*
> Wednesday, July 08, 2015
> ...


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## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

Some Videos from Timosha21


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## Dooie_Amsterdammert (Feb 14, 2014)

New Alstom Metropolis-based M5 metro in A -still not fully renovated underground station- of the 'eastline' metroline running from central station through the eastern section of the center to A suburb simply called 'south-east', because it is located at the south-east from the citycenter.
A Siemens Combino tram running through some suburb..


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Dooie_Amsterdammert said:


> A Siemens Combino tram running through some suburb..


Really? Line 12? What suburb? Where in the video?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

*September Update*

Installation of the third rail. 18km/22km done.


aanleg derde rai-10 september-15 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr 

Testing of short circuit systems






*Noord* webcam here

Escalators have been installed, escavation, drilling and construction of the station and bus station have begun.

 
Station Noord; werken aan het Busplatform-1 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr | Station Noord; werken aan het Busplatform-7 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


































*Noorderpark* webcam here

New sound walls along Nieuwe Leeuwarderweg

















Construction of the artwork has commenced. Called 'de Poorten van Noord' (the Gates of Noord) they're supposed to represent all kinds of things.

















*Central Station*

Lamellas haven been put into place in the ceiling at Central Station.


V-lamellen onder CS-6 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Aan het werk onder CS-8 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

Some clips from June showing off the works around Central Station. Many of the places in the videos have since been opened.





 




vid1 00:00 IJpassage
vid1 11:00 Central Station metro station
vid2 00:00 IJhal
vid2 09:50 Pedestrian/bike tunnel
vid2 14:30 Taxi stand

*Rokin*

Artists have been working on an archeologic display that will be put in between the escalators.


















Pics by Jorrit 't Hoen

And other artists have been focusing on the artwork on the station walls



















I've tried showing how massive the entrances for this station will be earlier, but wasn't able to do it properly. Adriaan Heijnen took a great photo:










*Vijzelgracht*

The escalators have been installed. They're the longest escalators (47m) in the BeNeLux.






Wall paneling progress


17 juni Vijzelgracht-8 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr










*De Pijp*

The iron architectural beams have been fire-proofed. They will be covered with some sort of metal finish later.










*Europaplein*

Walk-through video made in June on national Dag van de Bouw (Day of Construction)






*Zuid*

Zuid station got a bit of an overhaul this summer. They widened the stairs, erected a canopy, relocated the lift, and enlarged the ticket barrier area. This is all in preperation for the new metro line having its terminus here. All the measures are temporary however, as Zuid station is to be completely rebuilt in the future. Also notice the new signage, which will replace the current 4 or 5 different systems we have now (lol, finally).



Mojito said:


> Afgelopen zondag ben ik voor het eerst overgestapt op het vernieuwde metroperron van Zuid en heb ik er met mijn telefoon wat fotootjes geschoten.
> 
> *1. *
> 
> ...


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## ncronin (Mar 7, 2014)

Traveling in Amsterdam last year, I realized it was quicker/just as fast to travel on foot (even faster to bike) from point to point than it was to utilise the light rail/trams above ground. Anyone else experience this, or was my experience an anomaly?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Well your experience was a tourist experience; you probably didn't even leave the (pretty small) city center that much, if at all. Locals do, and they don't have time for a lovely stroll, when they can bike or take a tram instead. The trams are decently frequent and way faster than walking. Of course they go faster in the suburban areas. Streets in the center are busy and not very wide, and therefore slower. That's why we're building a metro line right underneath the center. (Photos in the post above you)


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Escalator from mezzanine level to lower platform at De Pijp station.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

It's rather narrow, or is it?


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

There's any plans to take trams out from the city center? Specially in Dan and leidseplein.
I know the new north south line will stop close to dam but I didn't hear anything about changes on the trams lines there.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

@Alargule; No idea. It might be the lense or the angle.
@worldpassport; Yes. Routes will be changed. The route partially parallel to the North/South line will in the future only carry one line. And some other lines will change too. The east-west tram lines that connect to the metro will have their frequency increased. By your question I'm assuming you think the trams on Dam and Leidseplein are nuisance? Cause I can guarantee you they're not considered a nuisance. If anything, cars, taxis, coaches and cyclists, or even just pedestrians, are considered to be much more of a nuisance than trams.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

@ncroin:

More or less every tram line has an interchange to NS trains and/or metro somewhere around the "ring", so if you live in the outskirts you can take the tram to an interchange and then take the metro or a NS train to the central station.

But I think it's a really good thing to have trams right in the city centre, even if they run rather slow. That way you don't have to walk that far in the city centre end of a journey.

Gothenburg (Swedens second biggest city) has a tram system that also runs rather slow in the city centre and runs rather fast in the outskirts. The result is short door-to-door. In the outskirts you have to walk about as far as you would have had with a metro system, but in the city centre the tram stops are really close by most destinations. With an intense traffic you usually don't have to wait long for the next tram. When I have a monthly subscription (or similar) for the public transit I usually take the tram instead of walk even if it's just to the next stop.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Trams don't stop that close in Amsterdam, and they recently eliminated a handful of stops to speed some lines.

Problem is lack of segregation, which often makes trams bunch up and run "out of sync" with their schedule in central areas.


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## SturmBeobachter (Jun 10, 2013)

WOOOOOOW!


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

Suburbanist said:


> Trams don't stop that close in Amsterdam, and they recently eliminated a handful of stops to speed some lines.
> 
> Problem is lack of segregation, which often makes trams bunch up and run "out of sync" with their schedule in central areas.


I think that's the main problem.
In City center I don't think trams are nuisance, but their speed is similar to go walking, mainly because of the lack of segregation.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Where are GVB tram depots located? I know of one at Sloterdijk, is there any other?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

A tram depot at Sloterdijk? Don't think so.

Havenstraat (Oud-Zuid)
Lekstraat (Rivierenbuurt)
Diemen (Maintenance)
Zeeburgereiland (Line 26 only)

It's on Wikipedia you know.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

The track maps at gleisplanweb usually gives a good hint at where the depots are located:

gleisplanweb.eu/Map.php?Map=Amsterdam


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## suasion (Sep 7, 2015)

> In City center I don't think trams are nuisance, but their speed is similar to go walking, mainly because of the lack of segregation.


Time yourself walking from leidseplein to the station and then get the tram back and post your times here.


Plus, Leidseplein is also a bad example for the trams in the centre as there is only a single track to Spui with passing loops at the halts but many routes use this stretch.


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## suasion (Sep 7, 2015)

> Where are GVB tram depots located? I know of one at Sloterdijk, is there any other?


The only tram parked at sloterdijk is a bar:cheers:


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

MiaM said:


> When I have a monthly subscription (or similar) for the public transit I usually take the tram instead of walk even if it's just to the next stop.


This is a healthy life choice.


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## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

Some recent Amsterdam videos from Timosha21


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## Mojito (Aug 14, 2003)

*Amsterdam, North South Metro Line, Vijzelgracht Station, Friday December 11th, 2015*

Last Friday, December 11th, our Dutch forum member Wuppeltje gave a small group of Dutch forum members the opportunity to visit two of the many construction sites of the _Noord/Zuidlijn_, the new North/South Metroline in Amsterdam. It was a special meeting, being the tenth SSC-North-South-Line-Meeting in five years. The first site we visited was *Vijzelgracht station*.

*1. *Southern entrance hall.

20151211_VZG01 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*2. *Eastern tube, looking to the south (De Pijp station).

20151211_VZG02 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*3. *Southern entrance with the longest escalators in the Benelux countries: the three escalators are 47 metres long, the difference in height is 19,57 metres.

20151211_VZG03 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*4. *

20151211_VZG03a by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*5. *The island platform. The height above the platform is striking. Especially when compared with the underground stations on the existing _Oostlijn_ (East Line).

20151211_VZG04 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*6. *

20151211_VZG05 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*7. *The name of the station, printed on the ceramic panels.

20151211_VZG06 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*8. *Southern entrance.

20151211_VZG07 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*9. *The railroad switch north of Vijzelgracht station.

20151211_VZG08 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*10. *Northern entrance hall.

20151211_VZG09 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*11. *The noisy exhaust installation in the northern entrance hall. The wooden hall is also built to prevent the inevitable pigeons to enter (and pollute) the station.

20151211_VZG10 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*12. *Braces for the wall cladding.

20151211_VZG11 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*13. *Northern entrance, seen from the Vijzelgracht.

20151211_VZG13 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*14. *The restauration of the monumental _Wevershuisjes_ (Weaver Houses), built in 1671 and severely damaged by abrupt subsidence in 2008 is finished; they are standing askew in the same way as they did before the damaging.

20151211_VZG14 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

And then we continued to Central Station.

(...)


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## Mojito (Aug 14, 2003)

*Amsterdam Central Station, North South Metro line, Friday December 11th, 2015*

(...)

And then we continued to the new metrostation under *Amsterdam Central Station*.

*1. *The new entrance hall under _Stationsplein_ is our starting point.

20151211_CS01 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*2. *This hall shows the shape of things to come. Materials, lighting, details, this is what we will see in the North/South Line.

20151211_CS02 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*3. *The transfer platform between the existing _Oostlijn_ and the _Noord/Zuidlijn_. The materials, finishing and detailing will be a combination between both the Noord/Zuidlijn and the renovated Oostlijn. The floor tiling is similar to the tiling used on the Oostlijn. This Oostlijn is situated behind the wooden wall which can be seen in the back. The wooden firewall on the ceiling is a temporary smoke curtain.

20151211_CS03 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*4. *

20151211_CS04 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*5. *The spacious hall under Stationsplein, often referred to as "De Kathedraal" (The Cathedral).

20151211_CS05 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*6. *

20151211_CS06 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*7. *

20151211_CS07 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*8. *LED lighting strip on the ceiling.

20151211_CS08 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*9. *Escalators from the eastern platform to the entrance hall.

20151211_CS09 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*10. *And the identical ones on the western platform.

20151211_CS10 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*11. *The metro platforms, situated under the _Middentunnel_ (Middle Tunnel) of Amsterdam Central Station. 

20151211_CS11 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*12. *The northern side of the platforms, situated under the new IJhal, opened last June.

20151211_CS12 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*13. *Northern entrance hall.

20151211_CS13 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*14. *Smoke curtain.

20151211_CS14 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*15. *This door leads to an enormous space under the _IJhal_ (IJ Hall), where a huge flood barrier, a vertical sliding door made of steel and filled with concrete, is stored. The new metro line perforates Amsterdam's main dikes and dike-rings three times. Every perforation needs a protection door like this by law.

20151211_CS15 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*16. *The flood barrier.

20151211_CS16 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*17. *The storage of the flood barrier, seen from top of the stairs.

20151211_CS17 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*18. *The staircase to the technical area is also quite spacious.

20151211_CS18 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*19. *And then we returned back to street level.

20151211_CS19 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*20. *Oops, something went wrong here...

20151211_CS20 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

*21. *A last view on the railroad switch south of Central Station.

20151211_CS21 by PCFR 76, on Flickr

And then it was time for a beer :cheers:!

If everything goes the way it is hoped, planned and expected, we have to wait two more years, until October 2017. We'll see!


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## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

Some recent Amsterdam videos from Timosha21

*Goodbye to the Iconic Metro M3 - Amsterdam*







*Trams at Centraal Station in Amsterdam - 2015*







*Timelapse of Transportation at Central Station in Amsterdam, NL*


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## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

Some recent Amsterdam videos from Timosha21


*Tour the New Metro Line: North-South Line in Amsterdam - Noord/Zuidlijn*







*Buses in Amsterdam, Holland*








*Trains and Metro in Amsterdam - Amstel Station*







*Dutch Passenger Trains in Central Amsterdam.*


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

21 sep 2015

Some new renderings I found of Vijzelgracht station.


MrAronymous said:


>


And also of Rokin station's northern entrance.


MrAronymous said:


>


27 oct 2015

The first metro to ever enter the new tunnels and stations for testing. Pulled/pushed by another vehicle because the 3rd rail hasn't been powered on yet. (This train type won't run on this line though, new vehicles will be bought, similar to the M5)


testrit van een metro in de tunnel met pers-17 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


testrit van een metro in de tunnel met pers-10 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


eerste testrit van een metro in de tunnel-14 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

5 nov 2015

Artwork that will be displayed between the escalators of Rokin station.









Nice view in De Pijp station by @obvanzomeren.
Looking from mezzanine level to the top platform.









6 nov 2015

Progress in De Pijp station.

De Pijp 6 november-15 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

Covering of the steel beams - test fit.

De Pijp 6 november-17 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

9 nov 2015

The two warehouses being built right now on Rokin will get a direct underground connection with the ticket hall of the northern entrance of Rokin station.









30 nov 2015

360° tour of the North/Southline.





7 dec 2015

Some new pics of the northern (waterfront) metro station exit into the IJhal above.

Onder het Centraal Station-17 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Onder het Centraal Station-18 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Onder het Centraal Station-21 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

10 dec 2015

Some tile flooring going in at Rokin + support collumns fireproofed.









11 dec 2015

Glass has been placed in the Vijzelgracht elevator.









16 dec 2015

A preview of what's to come; the huge curved glass 'cobra' canopy at Noorderpark station.


















18 dec 2015

A report was published with the conclusions of the investigation on possible metro extentions. (hint: most of them are too expensive)









23 dec 2015

Future situation at Zuid station. New tram routes, new 'Brittenpassage' and relocated (to the west) train platforms.









5 jan 2015

New metro signage starts being rolled out - Video













































6 jan 2016

Escalators and elevator cage in Rokin station.









Glass walls at Central Station. The voids will be filled with back-lit signage.


















They have started mounting fixtures on the horizontal beams for the covering.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Lots of work to do for a grand opening in Dec 2016, but I'm sure they will pull it off.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Dec 2016?

It's Amsterdam vs. New Amsterdam for delayed subway lines.

Which one will make it work?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Make that October 2017.
That's the time they've been aiming for since 2012.


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## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

*Driver's View of the Metro in Amsterdam, Holland*


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## redstarcastles (Oct 1, 2013)

2047 Amsterdam Centraal 30 December 2015


2108 Weesperplein 30 December 2015


2113 Weesperplein 30 December 2015


2070 Azartplein 30 December 2015


2034 at Azartplein 30 December 2015


2065 at Azartplein 30 December 2015


819 Amsterdam Centraal 30 December 2015


2050 Amsterdam Centraal 30 December 2015

More here:
https://transportsceneireland.smugmug.com/RailSceneEurope/European-Trams/Amsterdam-Trams/


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## Quentin60 (Feb 20, 2017)

Hello 
Thursday tram 26 (Centraal Station/ IJburg) doesn't work and there have the poliice (approximately at 5PM) and at 7 PM this tramline work again. Someone knows what's appen please? thanks and sorry for my english


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

20 July

Noorderpark station, for your viewing pleasure.


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-20 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-3 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-8 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-19 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-12 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Van Meeuwenei naar Cobra-15 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

25 July

Testing the metros and track's hauling capability by coupling two metro sets to form a 230m long train.






2 August

Walkaround in Central Station






3 August

East Line renovations: Waterlooplein entrance before and after

Stadhuis

















Blauwbrug


































10 August

East Line: Van der Madeweg station before and after





































































12 August

In this video a new announcement voice is audible. I think they're just testing it as of now. It is more neutral and better enunciated, but the text is read way too quick sometimes. It's probably a computer voice.





.

17 August

East Line: Bullewijk station before and after





































































25 August

East Line renovations: Preview of the new ceiling that will be placed in all underground stations. It's different from an earlier version that was being tested. The tubes are spaced farther apart and made of a different material, as to not disturb communcation signals. Its purpose is to hide the equipment mounted on the ceiling and declutter the stations visually.


Tweede proefplafond CS- kleiner en lichter-4 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

28 August

East Line renovations: Waterlooplein Nieuwe Herengracht entrance reopened

before:









now:

Waterlooplein open-4 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Waterlooplein open-6 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Uitgang Hortus in de nacht-4 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

3 September

De Pijp entrance


MrAronymous said:


>


12 September

East Line renovations: a first look at the new benches (the 70s are back baby) and floor lighting.



sergiogiorgini said:


>


13 September

Finally!! Glass in the Noord station canopy. View live on the webcam.
Should be done by December this year.


Ja, echt- glas in de kap van Noord!-14 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Ja, echt- glas in de kap van Noord!-8 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

19 September

A behind-the-scaffolding view of the new entrance at Rokin, giving direct acces from the ticket hall to the new Hudson's Bay department store. The concrete station box wall will be removed only _after_ the new metro line is up and running.





















MrAronymous said:


>


26 September

East Line Renovations: New lift shaft (hall > East Line) hoisted into position at Central Station.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Was the original design of these renovated stations the bare concrete version, or did they get panels (now removed) since they opened in the 1970s/1980s?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Bare (brutalism). When they got dirty they got painted. Other colourful elements (furniture) got removed or replaced. The yellow tiles at Waterlooplein date from a 2005 mini renovation.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Brutalist structures, *if properly maintained*, can look very nice and modern. 

The problem is when those responsible for maintenance of bare concrete structures skimp on their duties, thinking that just because it is concrete, you can always defer maintenance (in a way they would not let a missing wall tile or dropped ceiling panel remain unfixed).


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

They should add some blue and red tiles to the yellow ones in Waterlooplein and make it Mondriaan-esque


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Station furniture used to be red, green, yellow and blue. 

Here's pictures of Weesperplein station, the year the metro opened 40 years ago. Note the plants on the right lol.




























Many nice old pictures at https://twitter.com/oostlijn 

_____________________
In other news: 

9 November 

Showcasing the progress at Noord

short





long





15 November

Closing gates have arrived at De Pijp. Kinda ugly.


Sluitstuk station De Pijp op zijn plek-2 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Sluitstuk station De Pijp op zijn plek-13 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

17 November

East Line renovations: enlarging some of the street entrances. Breaking away the street between the lift and stairs and putting in a glass walled, light filled atrium instead.


















Architect en actiegroep slaan handen ineen bij Weesperplein-3 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Architect en actiegroep slaan handen ineen bij Weesperplein-5 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

22 November

The passageway between new and old metro lines at Central Station. With East Line renovation style walls and flooring and North/South Line style ceiling.




























24 November

All the glass is in place (weeks early, ironically) at Noord station. They're now removing the scaffolding. Click here for a 360 degree picture.


Glas op zijn plek bij station Noord-1 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Glas op zijn plek bij station Noord-12 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

Street works have started


Glas op zijn plek bij station Noord-14 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr

1 December 

Preview of the Tulip Palepai artwork at Central Station


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Today was the first day of the new public transportation tenders/schedules. 

That meant the Connexxion double decker made its firsts round between Amsterdam-Zuid and Haarlem Station.









@PauTjioeKho










Many of the routes were severely delayed or temporarily canceled because of the winter weather.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

If a route needs double decker buses it means it is time for conversion to light rail.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

There have been talks about it. The line 300 Bus lanes have been constructed with light rail in mind. These line 346 double decker buses to Zuid/VU will run every 5 minutes. But since these are regional buses between the cities of Haarlem, Amsterdam, Hoofddorp, Schiphol and Amstelveen, laying down tracks or constructing the neccessary viaducts and stations is quite expensive given how along most of both of these routes there is no real city-like density to make it pay-off. My hope is that more metro lines fanning out from Amsterdam will absorb some of these routes, like Schiphol-Amsteram Zuid or Amsterdam Zuid-Haarlem.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

The Zuid-Tangent as rail, outside of the immediate surroundings of Schiphol, offter possibilities of dense housing (IJbrug-style) around some key stations, and to make Hoofddorp a place for tall buildings as well.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Why the need for light rail between Zuid and Haarlem? There is already a metro line to Sloterdijk and then regional rail to Haarlem.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> Why the need for light rail between Zuid and Haarlem? There is already a metro line to Sloterdijk and then regional rail to Haarlem.


The Zuid Tangents connects Haarlem via Hoofdorp and Schiphol.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Suburbanist said:


> The Zuid Tangents connects Haarlem via Hoofdorp and Schiphol.


It seems like no one going from Haarlem to Zuid would ever take such a tangential bus. It's mostly meant to serve Haarlem-Hoofdorp and Hoofdorp-Schiphol sectors.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> It seems like no one going from Haarlem to Zuid would ever take such a tangential bus. It's mostly meant to serve Haarlem-Hoofdorp and Hoofdorp-Schiphol sectors.


The Zuidtangent connects Schiphol with the center of Amstelveen and Biljmer train station, more or less following the alignment of autosnelweg (highway) A9. It serves a different market criss-crossing metro line 51, and providing the only fast public transportation connection from Amstelveen to Schiphol.

Like other metro or light rail lines in several cities, it is not exactly meant to serve end-to-end travelers. It is not even faster to go by bus instead of train from Bijlmer Arena to Schiphol, but the buses connect the dense commercial and office areas there with the residential areas of Amstelveen and then connects it to Schiphol.

For people going to Amsterdam (Oud) Zuid the line is rather useless, I agree.









From the Dutch Wikipedia

PS: I wish Amsterdam annexed Ouderkerk a/d Amstel and Abcoude and densified it using some new light rail as a fishbone to build new clusters of high-rises.


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## Sixhaven (Jan 20, 2016)

Commuters from Haarlem to Amsterdam Zuid take bus 346, the one that is now run by doubledecker buses.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Sixhaven said:


> Commuters from Haarlem to Amsterdam Zuid take bus 346, the one that is now run by doubledecker buses.


Why? Is it cheaper than taking the train? Time is money after all.


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## Sixhaven (Jan 20, 2016)

Because taking bus 346 is just as fast as taking the train to Sloterdijk and then take metro 50 to Zuid: bus 346 takes 34 minutes from Haarlem Station to Amsterdam Zuid, while the combination of train and metro takes anywhere between 31 minutes and 36 minutes. Many Haarlem commuters can board the bus at one of the other stops in Haarlem, while the train only has an extra stop at Haarlem Spaarnwoude, tilting the balance even more in favour of the bus.

The bus requires no changes, which is not only more convenient, bus also cheaper because the national railway tariffs and other modes of transport (metro/tram/bus) are not integrated, which makes you pay the boarding fare twice. Only for people with a free travel subscription at the railways (like me) would changing at Sloterdijk be cheaper.

The double decker buses only have seats, no standing places, and are therefore allowed to drive 100 km/h on the freeway.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

^^

Is there any talks about integrating the train tariffs with the other transport tariffs?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Well we have the national OV-chipkaart fare card. But otherwise, no. The only thing that they're thinking about is integrating fare calculation. So that would mean only having to tap in at the beginning of your trip an tapping out at the end. Now you have to tap out and in every time you switch mode (bus, tram, metro) or company (train).


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The city council has voted in favour of the automatic parking garage for neighborhood residents in the unused space above Vijzelgracht station.



















Yet some more pics of the East Line renovations...


MrAronymous said:


> Renovated and enlarged entry building
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Full line 52 ride (x4)





Full line 52 ride (real-time)





As you can see in the videos above they were still installing the artwork at Europaplein. Progress:


















Artwork at Central Station was activated too:









A sneak peek of the archeological findings displayed at Rokin: 


















The city council has approved new public transport measures for Zeeburgereiland and IJburg:








-Tram 26 will be extended onto the new islands (blue dashed line)
-Tram 26 will get increased frequency and infrastructure will be adapted for coupled train service.
-New parallel transit bridge will be built next to Amsterdam Bridge (south part of green line). If it will be built for bus or tram will be decided this summer.
-New express bus to Zuidoost and Weesp (orange line)

Tram 26 will also get a new calamity turning loop (and seperate power substations) at the drop-off loop at the Michiel de Ruijtertunnel entrance next to Central Station. This is so if something happens in the city center and the power has to be shut off, service on line 26 can continue. It's the backbone of IJburg and Zeeburgereiland, without this tram people are basically stuck on those islands.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

^^ Is there supposed to be a link to a bigger map?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Loop construction of line 26 are underway:


plankje55 said:


> Untitled by ericplan, on Flickr


A campaign has been started by the regional transport organizations to inform people the routes will change on 22 July with the start of the metro. New map on this page.









Meanwhile they have laid the artwork tile floor at Noord














Testing line 52 with volonteers has begun!





Artwork at Europaplein finished


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

How would you rank Amsterdam's public transport on a 0-10 scale?


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Purple.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

LtBk said:


> How would you rank Amsterdam's public transport on a 0-10 scale?


 I'd give it an 8 once you factor cycling and the new transformative Noordzuidlijn 

Major issues:
-lack of some 2 very needed subway lines 
-lack of peripheral tram lines instead of busses 
-trams too slow within the canal belt


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

How would you rank something that doesn't exist yet?

And bikes are private transport, not public.

I would rate 6

Major issues:
Trams are super slow(it might be faster go walking) in the canal belt

The headways are awful, 7-15 minutes for a metro? Really?

Most of The stations don't protect you from cold neither rain/wind

Expensive af

The metro lines don't get you to most of the most dense areas 

Any issue delays all tram system (I don't get what amsterdamers see in those trams that a bus system couldn't do and being way more flexible)


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

worldpassport said:


> How would you rank something that doesn't exist yet?


because it opens in one month and fundamentally changes the dynamics of transportation in much of the city, especially Noord.



> And bikes are private transport, not public.


They are private transportation but their pervasive use has noticeable impacts in the public transportation network, mainly in that it reduces latent demand for very short trips.



> Expensive af


Not really. A monthly pass for the whole GVB network costs only €93/month.




> Any issue delays all tram system (I don't get what amsterdamers see in those trams that a bus system couldn't do and being way more flexible)


Buses would pollute a lot, and they would also make restricted street space even more congested.

The new network after this month takes cares of most of these issues with serious reduciton of trams within the canal belt.


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

There are Electric buses, and buses can run on exclusive lanes exactly like trams


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

And before it opens it's hard to evaluate, we don't know how the new dynamic will work in the real world... there's already famous rant on YouTube about the changes on the tram routes.


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

Any private transportation has impact on public transport, not only bikes... And the impact is not only good ones, for instance, it makes the headways even worse as the demand is lower.


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## sergiogiorgini (Jun 28, 2009)

worldpassport said:


> There are Electric buses, and buses can run on exclusive lanes exactly like trams


Buses are wider, Amsterdam's streets are narrow, and buses have less capacity. End of story. If trams can barely cope with the demand, buses sure wouldn't be able to.

I do kind of agree with you on bikes, which are constantly sold as a brilliant solution to the transportation problem, but in reality are not helping the congestion problem in the center and are probably only that wildly popular because transit in Amsterdam isn't that great to begin with. They have the additional effect of turning the city's traffic into a permanent state of lawless pandemonium. I'd prefer not to cycle in the city, yet I do, because taking a tram would take much longer.

So anyway, I would rate today's system about a 5. The tram network is expansive, but horribly ill-equipped to handle today's demand (slow, overcrowded), specifically within the Canal Ring, and Centraal Station is far too overcrowded to function as an efficient hub for it all.

After Metro 52 opens next month, I hope I'll be able to give it a 6.5. That line is sure to prove a hugely welcome source of relief, but the effect on the network as a whole remains to be seen. I hope Centraal and its surroundings will be able to breathe just a little. (Also because all buses will be moved the rear of the station, and fewer buses and trams will terminate at Centraal.) But of course it's only one line, and east-west connections won't be improved much.


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

sergiogiorgini said:


> Buses are wider, Amsterdam's streets are narrow, and buses have less capacity. End of story. If trams can barely cope with the demand, buses sure wouldn't be able to.


I agree that buses are wider, however I hate how narrow trams and a single person can block the corridor... this could be improved with less seats tho.
In my hometown bi-articulated running every 2-3 minutes probably can handle a demand closer to what some trams lines do here.



> I do kind of agree with you on bikes, which are constantly sold as a brilliant solution to the transportation problem, but in reality are not helping the congestion problem in the center and are probably only that wildly popular because transit in Amsterdam isn't that great to begin with. They have the additional effect of turning the city's traffic into a permanent state of lawless pandemonium. I'd prefer not to cycle in the city, yet I do, because taking a tram would take much longer.


I agree, I also avoid cycling in the center... and I hate how bikes are sold as the ultimate solution, specially for huge cities.



> So anyway, I would rate today's system about a 5. The tram network is expansive, but horribly ill-equipped to handle today's demand (slow, overcrowded), specifically within the Canal Ring, and Centraal Station is far too overcrowded to function as an efficient hub for it all.


Agree 100%



> After Metro 52 opens next month, I hope I'll be able to give it a 6.5. That line is sure to prove a hugely welcome source of relief, but the effect on the network as a whole remains to be seen. I hope Centraal and its surroundings will be able to breathe just a little. (Also because all buses will be moved the rear of the station, fewer buses and trams will terminate at Centraal.) But of course it's only one line, and east-west connections won't be improved much.


To be honest I'm not sure what to expect from metro 52, I heard a lot of criticism from people that now will need to change to get to the centre... however I love the idea of less trams in the centre, but if I still have to wait ~10min every time I have to change metro, then it's still inefficient.


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

I think 5/10 is rather harsh.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Quite jealous of those who got to take home one of the old metro signs in a bingo.
































__________

The idea of a funicular in the new Haven-Stad development is gaining traction. So much so that it's even appeared on the scale model by the city.



Mojito said:


> 2018.02.25_VEP12 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


And images by proponents of the idea (other location though)

















__________

There will be an official opening of line 52 on 21st July. Regular service will start on 22nd July.





__________

East Line renovation: new entrance for Nieuwmarkt









@hegemanbi


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## Tramwayman (Jan 22, 2009)

MrAronymous said:


> The idea of a funicular in the new Haven-Stad development is gaining traction. So much so that it's even appeared on the scale model by the city.


This is a cable car! Not a funicular.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

My bad.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

IMHO there is a reason for cable cars being used in some South American cities, and that is that it's very hilly and a funicular or even a rack / cog wheel rail won't work well due to varying inclination and lack of space. (An underground funicular or cog wheel rail line is a really bad idea as seen by the disaster in one of those in the alps in the 90's, where the lower end of the train caught fire and the tunnel worked as a chimney spreading the fire upwards. Iirc a few survived, like maybe 2-4 persons, and something alike 80-100 persons died  ).

On a rather flat city like Amsterdam standard rail would be a better option. Especially as it seems like a new part of the city is being buildt it would be easy to make room for a tram line. Since Amsterdam already have trams they already have all required knowledge. If the size of the trams are choosen wisely they could be transported on the metro tracks if this new part of the city otherwise would be isolated from the existing tram network.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Yeah but this particular area is different though. It might be as flat as the rest of the city, it's also a former harbor area and seperated by a river-sized water. It's slated to undergo major redevelopment into a mixed use high density area, where slow modes of transportation and public transport is encouraged. 

However, the current harbor shape and the current infrastructure that's already there (Sloterdijk train/metro, Isolatorweg metro terminus, Klaprozenweg bus corridor) make that upgrading infrastructure can only be done in limited ways, also to be cost-efficient. So the eastern side needs some sort of public transport solution that links to parts where metro lines _are_ feasable and being planned.

Here, this is a fantasy map I made of the area. The dark green and light blue lines are metro extensions being considered (light blue one is currently a BRT bus corridor). At Coenhaven there were plans to build a cruise terminal (see scale model I posted earlier). Around this location is also where the intermediate cable car station would be located, because this area would be most isolated. Everything right (east) of the motorway would be redevelopped like shown in the scale model.










As you can see, there currently is no crossing for slow traffic. Just the A10 motorway tunnel which some bus lines use. The rest is done by ferries. They're free for the user, but quite expensive to operate for the city. They can also take a while, as they're not always as frequent. At night especially, the routes are very slow and you can't depend on them. There's plans for new bridges luckily.

The thing is, you could put down tram lines here. But as the density is planned to be so high, you need more than just a couple of flimsy tram lines that aren't always reliable. Next to a capacity issue, that's also very important for locations that are physically isolated. We're dealing with that problem on IJburg with tram 26 now. If the trams are temporarily stopped, people are stuck on the island because the replacement buses take forever to arrive.

Anyway, a link from Sloterdijk or Isolatorweg stations to somewhere on the Coenhaven peninsula towards Cornelis Douwes/NDSM, could provide a good short link to other high capacity mass transit (metro) that's already planned and actually feasable to fit into the regional transit planning. It's also looking good capacity and cost wise.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

^^
Interesting. Are there anything online to read about the metro projects actually considered? Would the "blue" line connect to the existing metro?

Re Ijburg: Would it help to have a track connection between the crossing lines at Rietlandpark? Any problem northwest of that stop could then somewhat be avoided by rerouting the trams. Also how about a connection between Flevopark and Zuiderzeeweg? That would cost much more so probably not feasable and it would also only be one stop southeast of Rietlandpark anyways. (P.S. It seems a bit hard to fit any connecting track at Rietlandpark, but if a single track could be fitted it might be feasable to reverse trams for a short stretch while in service. I think the experience from Gothenburg is that if the drivers get some practice in reversing now and then it will work, while if they almost never do it they forget how to do it. At least in Gothenburg you do it by putting the tram in a special mode in the drivers place, and then the driver goes to the back of the tram and open a small "door" where the most basic controls are, so he can look through the rear window while reversing, making it about as safe as driving forwards. Not sure how it's done, if it's even possible, with the trams in Amsterdam).

But anyways the problem of replacement buses taking ages to arrive exists everywhere where you have a single rail line of some kind. Of course there are different reasons for a stop to happen, tram lines suffer from problems with other road traffic. Imho it seems like the best solution here is to have the neccesary staff and equipment to deal with those problems immediately, like towing away a broken down car or whatever is the problem.

Or maybe just install points in the tracks so the trams can travel in both directions on the same track. Or use double direction trams. That way each individual tram can cover a stretch of a few stops and the passengers would have to change trams at a few places but they would still be able to get to their destinations even if one track is blocket at some place.

The only "perfect" solution to this problem is either to have more lines or just use buses.

Re trams being "flimsy". My impression from Amsterdam is that the trams runs slowly in the central area but otherwise runs fast and aren't prone to problems.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Yeah but it's all in Dutch I'm afraid. Here's an article about a connection of the blue line to line 52 at Sixhaven. I believe it also has been in a general metro expansion enquiry by the city.



> aren't prone to problems


Accidents on crossing happen regularly. That's not really a big issue if you have a big network, so you can take a detour. But on the edges of the network the lines are isolated and often the only 'fast' option to get to somewhere more central in town. Which means in a case of an accident you're stuck.



> Would it help to have a track connection between the crossing lines at Rietlandpark? Any problem northwest of that stop could then somewhat be avoided by rerouting the trams. Also how about a connection between Flevopark and Zuiderzeeweg?


Actually, I think a connection between the Piet Heintunnel (which ends right at the Rietlandpark stop) and the above ground tram line is way more costly than a connection on Zeeburgereiland. The only way to do it somewhat cheaply is by using the rail yard to make a big curve towards Czaar Peterstraat. Going backwards during service is definitely a no-go here.

A new transit bridge along Amsterdamsebrug (the current bridge itself couldn't handle tram traffic) from Flevopark (where a couple of tram lines have their terminus) to Zuiderzeeweg on Zeeburgereiland is quite simple; just building a new transit bridge. For the all the construction that's going on, Zeeburgereiland definitely needs the extra connections. And of course it would create extra options for those living on IJburg. So this plan is actually actively being looked at. They've even talked about making it to metro specifications, so an East-West metro line could use it in the future.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

MrAronymous said:


> Yeah but it's all in Dutch I'm afraid. Here's an article about a connection of the blue line to line 52 at Sixhaven.


Thanks for the links! I can actually read a bit dutch, and btw also understand an even smaller bit spoken dutch. At least enough to understand most of the text.

Re Station Sixhaven, why would there be a need to reverse trains at a special reversing track which has no platform? From the track maps in the various proposals it seems like it's already possible to turn at Centraal Station and there are points making reversal possible both on the existing new line to Noord and also on the proposed "blue" line. Isn't that enough? Or is the idea that there would be room for so many more trains between Centraal Station and the southern parts of Amsterdam than between Centraal Station and the ends of both the existing new line to Noord and the proposed "blue" line? Or is this some kind of emergency usage stuff like for example if there is a power outage on the norhtern parts of Amsterdam so no trains can run there?



MrAronymous said:


> I believe it also has been in a general metro expansion enquiry by the city.


Thanks, this is the absolutely most interesting of the links you provided! I read the article, and also downloaded the report and read the bijlage 1. It's an interesting read! Alternative 1C for schiphol seems to cross the runways while 1A and 1B "only" crosses the lanes connecting the runways. I guess that the airport would prefer 1A or 1B over 1C. This is btw the kind of thing I would look extra much into if I suspected that someone who's job is to be neutral actually doesen't want 1C to happen.

In the bijlage 1 there is mention of a remake of Lelylaan. Is it really neccessary to be able to turn trains there? Berlins S-Bahn could be a reference to compare with. They can run a whole turn around their circle (ringbahn) without too much timetable problems. Their solution is to let the trains come in on one of the chords that connects to the ring, and then run for more than a complete turn, and then turn around (somewhere in the northwestern quadrant IIRC), and then back again.

If alternative 1A/1B/1C should get buildt, wouldn't it be better to build a metro track triangle where the then new Schiphol line would meet the existing ring? That way trains could go Schiphol - Isolatorweg and onwards to one of the proposed extensions at Isolatorweg. Or is that "leg" considered unneccesary due to regular NS trains running Schiphol - Lelylaan-CS?



MrAronymous said:


> Accidents on crossing happen regularly. That's not really a big issue if you have a big network, so you can take a detour. But on the edges of the network the lines are isolated and often the only 'fast' option to get to somewhere more central in town. Which means in a case of an accident you're stuck.


How about a tram elevator? There used to be an underground train elevator at Waterloo for the Waterloo and City line in London. (This suggestion is a joke, however there actually used to be an unterground train elevator in London  )



MrAronymous said:


> Actually, I think a connection between the Piet Heintunnel (which ends right at the Rietlandpark stop) and the above ground tram line is way more costly than a connection on Zeeburgereiland. The only way to do it somewhat cheaply is by using the rail yard to make a big curve towards Czaar Peterstraat. Going backwards during service is definitely a no-go here.
> 
> A new transit bridge along Amsterdamsebrug (the current bridge itself couldn't handle tram traffic) from Flevopark (where a couple of tram lines have their terminus) to Zuiderzeeweg on Zeeburgereiland is quite simple; just building a new transit bridge. For the all the construction that's going on, Zeeburgereiland definitely needs the extra connections. And of course it would create extra options for those living on IJburg. So this plan is actually actively being looked at. They've even talked about making it to metro specifications, so an East-West metro line could use it in the future.


Interesting! A connection there would at least help if the northwestern half of the line is inoperable. Would it be feasable to continue across the Ij to the northern parts of Amsterdam?

looking at the southeastern end of line 26, it kind of looks like parts of the pace isn't ready yet. Pampuslaan is obviously buildt with room for tram tracks, and it looks like Muiderlaan is planned to be a 2+2 road but only one half is in use. Are there plans to build more in this area, like the unbuild sqaure to the northeast of the existing houses?

Btw what general plans are there of Amsterdam expanding, if there are any?

Btw how is all legal stuff solved when GVB runs in another gemeente than Amsterdam? For example Diemen Zuid but mostly all the stations in Amstelveen.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The 'naar Zaandam' means 'to Zaandam'. Zaandam is the town in Zaanstad (area) where this branch would lead to (light blue line on my map). The reasons they give for using a station with 4 platforms is because it's more convenient service wise.

If I'm not mistaken 1B proposes to use the current bus rapid transit tunnel already there. Most forum members agree that route 2 would make the most sense, as to form an actual network in the city (currently very north/south heavy) and to connect Schiphol Airport directly to the city centre. The airport already has a train line running to Zuid station where you (in a month) can take line 52 to the city centre. 1A and 1B largely follow these tracks (not very efficient, not many people served directly, extra usefulness doubtful).

Not only would the connection you propose not make sense because that exact route already has trains doing that, if there's going to be a metro to Schiphol it must have a quick connection to the central city. Connecting tho the Isolatorweg metro would mean a detour towards Central and not coming close to the central neighbourhoods.

Noord isn't populated that heavily. But maybe in the future a rail connection from Zeeburgereiland to Noord station, through Noord, could make sense.

The room you see on Pampuslaan wasn't meant for tram, but rather for metro. It's a long story, but a metro towards Almere (google IJmeerlijn) was/is planned. The IJburg plans were scaled down however. The most logical option is for a metro line to branch off at Diemen-Zuid. On Google Maps you can see you can almost draw a straight line. Currently just the tram line will be extended to future Centrumeiland and Strandeiland.

City expansions: Zuidas, Haven-Stad, Sluisbuurt, Amstel III, Amstelkwartier, IJburg II, Hamerkwartier. Most of them are infill developments. We're cautious about expanding outwards. Project overview

Metro ownership: Metro & Tram is a City of Amsterdam department that owns the station, vehicles and rail infrastructure. GVB is merely the operator that uses the vehicles and infrastructure, but they are heavily involved in buying the vehicles and everything that has to do with their network.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

MiaM said:


> Btw how is all legal stuff solved when GVB runs in another gemeente than Amsterdam? For example Diemen Zuid but mostly all the stations in Amstelveen.


Not sure, but fun fact: Verrijn Stuartweg is also in Diemen


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Well, a third leg of a triangle at the southwestern corner of the ring would only make sense if the metro at Isolatorweg were connected to the north. I agree with the others in that it would probably be better to connect a schiphol metro line to a new east-west line.

In what ways would the Zuidtangent be affected by a Schiphol metro?

And btw, why did they build the Zuidtangent as a bus way rather than some kind of rail line?


Oh, interesting about Pampuslaan. That explains the unused land in that area. Were todays tram 26 in the plan together with the metro extension, or were it a choice between the two?

I think what I ment to ask previously is if there is any money transfer between GBB/gemeende Amsterdan as one part ant the other gemeendes like for example Diemen and Amstelveen as the other parts?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

> In what ways would the Zuidtangent be affected by a Schiphol metro?


None


> why did they build the Zuidtangent as a bus way rather than some kind of rail line?


Because the route is very long and currently it used parts of the highway. Rail infrastructure would have to be mostly segregated and also fitted into the existing urban space.

The Vervoerregio Amsterdam (Amsterdam Transport Region) is a board made up of members of municipalities in the Amsterdam area. They decide on transit and infrastructure budgets on behalf of the municipalities. They also award the transit concession agreements in some transit districts.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

The Zuidtangent should be converted to light rail as the region grows.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

No it shouldn't.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

​


MrAronymous said:


> No it shouldn't.


Light rail with some realignment would allow Hoofddorp to be better connected to Amstelveen (which could then replace low-rise flats by high-rises and what not), and then it would allow Ouderkerk a/d Amstel to be finally incorporated not as a village hogging land but as a bustling town with an old core (more or less like Amstelveen, I'm not proposing razing the old quaint houses down there, just surround the own town with new development).


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

^^ Isn't there enough space for building aready without having to tear down low rise buildings to build high-rise buidlings?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

*M52*

21 July 2018, metro 52 was officially opened by dignitaries and members of the public got to ride for free.























































Tomorrow on Sunday the rest of the public transit network will change. A lot of lines will be rerouted, some numbers will be phased out entirely. Some streets in the city center will be closed off to cars as well.
Some classic vehicles were deployed on some of the route numbers that will be phased our as of tomorrow.



MrAronymous said:


> @a_n_n_a_b_e_t_h
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*New second metro-station underneath the Centraal Station.*
It took more then fifth-teen years to build the line. It was quite an achievement to digg and build a line underneath the historical city center trough the muddy soil. A lot of things went wrong during the construction. Historical houses collapses, flooding in the tunnels, exceeding the cost. But after hard working a beautiful line is born underneath the historical center of Amsterdam. 

This metrostation is by many called _De Kathedraal _(The Cathedral). 




















20180120_CS01 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS02 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS04 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS05 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS06 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS07 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS07a by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS08 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS09 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS15 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS16 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS18 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS19 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS22 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


20180120_CS23 by PCFR 76, on Flickr


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ Looks nice, but it's incredible there is already tagging at the station!


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## radamfi (Aug 7, 2008)

Does anyone know why the VDL electric buses in the Netherlands, such as the ones run by Connexxion south of Amsterdam mainly around the airport, need to be charged during the day using a pantograph when electric buses in London including the new double deckers coming soon can run all day without a recharge?

https://www.alexander-dennis.com/ne...first-order-for-pure-electric-double-deckers/



> The 10.9m long electric double deckers will feature ADL’s eye-catching City style bodywork with a glazed staircase and will be built to TfL’s comprehensive specification. They will use BYD’s Iron-Phosphate battery technology which enables the buses to run all day on a single charge using cost effective off-peak electricity.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*Random photos from the new stations.*











Amsterdam : Noord Zuid lijn. by albert bakker, on Flickr

*Noord*

Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr

*CS*

DSC01038 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01039 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01031 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01043 by job de hoop, on Flickr

*Rokin*
 
Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr



NZ180721-Opening Noord-Zuidlijn-20 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr

_*Museum? This collection comes from digging the soil.*_

DSC01075 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01057 by job de hoop, on Flickr


[url=https://flic.kr/p/26EvNGs]DSC01077 
by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01061 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01085 by job de hoop, on Flickr








[/url]
DSC01089 by job de hoop, on Flickr

*De Pijp Albert Cuyp Market*

DSC01100 by job de hoop, on Flickr


Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr


DSC01054 by job de hoop, on Flickr


Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr


DSC01047 by job de hoop, on Flickr

*Vijzelgracht*
Stacked platform. 
_
It was difficult to build underneath the historical buildings. This station is build underneath a street, but this street is not very wide. 
One platform is build on top of the other platform._

DSC01111 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01106 by job de hoop, on Flickr


DSC01107 by job de hoop, on Flickr

*Europaplein RAI conventioncentre*

DSC01133 by job de hoop, on Flickr


Finally:Noord Zuid lijn. by Bart, on Flickr


Amsterdam: metrostation Europaplein by Erik de Haan, on Flickr

*Amsterdam Zuid (Business district)*
Station not finish yet.

Station Amsterdam Zuid - Amsterdam (Netherlands) by Perry Tak, on Flickr

Constructions starts next year. It will also be a hub for all international trains from and to Amsterdam.


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

Congrats to Amsterdam on their new metro line. Too bad it too long to built.


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## CB31 (May 23, 2010)

What? That looks really great! Well done!! :applause::cheers:

One question, if I go to Amsterdam touristically I'd find myself using the new stations?


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## Basnix (Sep 25, 2012)

Yes, I think you do. The line runs partly underneath the core of the city centre (with stops near Dam Square and the popular neighbourhood De Pijp)


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## CB31 (May 23, 2010)

Thanks for the answer. I definitely would like to experience it


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

I have a colleague whose family owns a couple flats in Noord (I think 4 or 5, his parents are kinda wealthy and bought at bargain-prices in 2011 at the apex of the crisis when projects started before the crisis were desperate for cash buyers somehow). He told me that sale prices have increased 40%+ near the vicinity of the two northernmost stations in the last 3 years, once it became clear the line would be finished.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The prices all over Amsterdam have increased by at least 30% even without the metro line.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

MrAronymous said:


> The prices all over Amsterdam have increased by at least 30% even without the metro line.


Hopefully this create an incentive for the Amstelveen plan to be ditched and replaced by a full-fledged metro line there, with upzoning along some stations (the ones where 150m buildings won't interfere with Schiphol flight paths)


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Yeah no, not happening unfortunately. There's limited room for growth in Amstelveen.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

CB31 said:


> What? That looks really great! Well done!! :applause::cheers:
> 
> One question, if I go to Amsterdam touristically I'd find myself using the new stations?


You aren't a real train geek unless you ride most of the metro lines :banana:

But seriously: It's easy to visit Amsterdam by train without using the big central station, and for parts of Amsterdam it seems easiest to change between train and metro at Zuid.

(When I visited Amsterdam by train in 2014 I changed between train and tram at Lelylaan)


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

radamfi said:


> Does anyone know why the VDL electric buses in the Netherlands, such as the ones run by Connexxion south of Amsterdam mainly around the airport, need to be charged during the day using a pantograph when electric buses in London including the new double deckers coming soon can run all day without a recharge?
> 
> https://www.alexander-dennis.com/ne...first-order-for-pure-electric-double-deckers/


The VDL indeed needs to be charge during the day. The range with a full battery is only 80 kilometers. I think the difference with the London city bus is, that Connexion runs a BRT. 

The longest and most busiest line (_Haarlem-Schiphol-Amsterdam South-East_) is 56 kilometer and the speed on the separate bus lanes are 80-90 km/h (65mi/h). Maybe VDL still have to invent a battery for high-speed without recharging. I guess it cost a lot of energy to drive constantly 80 km/h. Currently the VDL buses uses a super-charger, that takes 15-20 minutes to charge the battery.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

20 minutes for 80% that is.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Yeah, in central London the speeds would be low, so if the bus is mostly braking in a way that sends the break energy back to the batteries, it won't consume much energy at all. Afaik the losses in a charge-discharge cycle is rather low on nowdays modern batteries.

But at 80-90km/h it might be a good idea to make the front of the bus more aerodynamic to gain a larger range with a given set of batteries.


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## radamfi (Aug 7, 2008)

Mr_Dru said:


> The VDL indeed needs to be charge during the day. The range with a full battery is only 80 kilometers. I think the difference with the London city bus is, that Connexion runs a BRT.
> 
> The longest and most busiest line (_Haarlem-Schiphol-Amsterdam South-East_) is 56 kilometer and the speed on the separate bus lanes are 80-90 km/h (65mi/h). Maybe VDL still have to invent a battery for high-speed without recharging. I guess it cost a lot of energy to drive constantly 80 km/h. Currently the VDL buses uses a super-charger, that takes 15-20 minutes to charge the battery.


But Connexxion are not using electric buses on the 300. They are mostly using them on the local services around Schiphol, although they are also on the 357 which runs to the city centre. I would guess much of that route has a 50 km/h (or lower) speed limit.


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## geoking66 (Jun 27, 2006)

CB31 said:


> What? That looks really great! Well done!! :applause::cheers:
> 
> One question, if I go to Amsterdam touristically I'd find myself using the new stations?


Definitely. It'll make access to the southern parts of the Canal Ring a lot easier than dealing with trams and it'll be near a number of points of interest, such as the Albert Cuypmarkt and RAI (faster than using the previous way of getting there).


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## bench_mark_2 (Feb 23, 2012)

QUOTE=Mr_Dru;150705025]*Random photos from the new stations.*
*Rokin*
 
Amsterdam: Noord/Zuidlijn by H. Bos, on Flickr






[/QUOTE]


I think that the new line looks nice, especially the trains. However it is very very pity that the river was not restored where Rokin is. The entrances to the station could have been placed elsewhere (Dam Sq for instance). One of the most charming things of the town is the canals so they should be kept.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

It is not as if Amsterdam is lacking canal within the medieval walls... And the old canal had been filled up in the 1920s.


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## davroca5 (Oct 31, 2011)

OMG! The stations are really cool! Congrats, Amsterdam! Enjoy!


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

Is anyone experiencing the transport since the changes?

I'm using daily, and I have to say, everything but the new line is worse.
The tram 1 used to be very often, now it's every 10(if you are luck) even in the rush hour.

The other metro lines got surreal time tables, it is not rare having to wait 15-20 minutes for a metro in business hours.

Really, I'm almost getting back to bikes.... I'd rather get a car, however, I work in a 30 stories building with no parking garage.


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## radamfi (Aug 7, 2008)

worldpassport said:


> Is anyone experiencing the transport since the changes?
> 
> I'm using daily, and I have to say, everything but the new line is worse.
> The tram 1 used to be very often, now it's every 10(if you are luck) even in the rush hour.
> ...


GVB already predicted a worse service in the short/medium term before the timetable change:

https://en.gvb.nl/reizen/nieuwe-tijden



> We are proud and happy that the Noord/Zuid route will soon be in service. Of course, we are also a little nervous. When the Noord/Zuid routes goes into service on 22 July there are bound to be some growing pains. And most certainly in the first six months. This can vary from an absence of up-to-date travel information to a temporary loss of a metro or even an entire route. Of course, this will affect the connecting tram and bus routes. Naturally, we will do everything possible to remedy the start up problems as quickly as possible and, in the meantime, inform our passengers as best we can.


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## sergiogiorgini (Jun 28, 2009)

^^ That doesn't have anything to do with it. The day the M52 went into service, the rest of the network entered its annual summer timetable, which means reduced service all around. I completely agree that 4 trains per hour on the M50 is ridiculous (those are Intercity train frequencies here!)

The 52 is a quality line, but it really shines a light on the mediocrity of the rest of the network.


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## Sixhaven (Jan 20, 2016)

worldpassport said:


> Is anyone experiencing the transport since the changes?
> 
> I'm using daily, and I have to say, everything but the new line is worse.
> The tram 1 used to be very often, now it's every 10(if you are luck) even in the rush hour.
> ...


That is because the Noord/Zuidlijn started on the day the summer timetable was put in effect (for obvious reasons: you'd rather have teething problems in a quiet period than in a busy period). After summer the trams and busses will run at their normal frequency.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

How is the transfer between lines 51 and 52 organized at Zuid?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Cross-platform, or via the station hall. Depends on in which direction you have to go.


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## aenigma (Jan 19, 2013)

Hi guys, congratulations for the new line. It looks amazing, can't wait to go back to Amsterdam and try it.
I have read that is planned to extend it to Schiphol, do you have any idea about in how many years the works could start?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

No real plans.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

aenigma said:


> Hi guys, congratulations for the new line. It looks amazing, can't wait to go back to Amsterdam and try it.
> I have read that is planned to extend it to Schiphol, do you have any idea about in how many years the works could start?


There's a perfectly fine connection from Zuid to Schiphol. A >1 billion euro extension to Schiphol makes no sense.

They need to upgrade the line in Amstelveen (instead of the downgrade to tram they're doing now), so you can have a proper Noord/Zuidlijn from Amstelveen all the way to Noord.


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## dysharmonica (Dec 3, 2015)

Silly_Walks said:


> There's a perfectly fine connection from Zuid to Schiphol. A >1 billion euro extension to Schiphol makes no sense.
> 
> They need to upgrade the line in Amstelveen (instead of the downgrade to tram they're doing now), so you can have a proper Noord/Zuidlijn from Amstelveen all the way to Noord.


My concern with upgrading the Amstelveen line to proper metro is that the southern section seems perfectly suited for surface rail / light rail ... which is what it is now ... while the northern section (From Zuid to roughly Amstelveen Centrum) could use an upgrade ... so the ideal solution for the whole city would be to split the line ... and I am sure that would anger many people.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

dysharmonica said:


> Silly_Walks said:
> 
> 
> > There's a perfectly fine connection from Zuid to Schiphol. A >1 billion euro extension to Schiphol makes no sense.
> ...


The line will be split regardless because, once completed, there will be no more a sneltram 51 connecting Amstelveen to Centraal.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*Station Noord*










IMG_4469 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4493by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4422 by Momo1435, on Flickr

*Station Noorderpark*

Station Noorderpark artist impression 01 by NoordZuidlijn NoordZuidlijn, on Flickr


SMS_20180629_0413.jpg by Siebe Swart, on Flickr


IMG_4409 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4407 by Momo1435, on Flickr


Amsterdam : Noord Zuid lijn. by albert bakker, on Flickr

*Centraal Station*




























IMG_4376 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4575 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4253 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4309 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4230 by Momo1435, on Flickr

*Station Rokin*

IMG_4143 by Momo1435, on Flickr


DSC01077 by job de hoop, on Flickr


Amsterdam, metrostation Rokin by 
Tim Boric, on Flickr


IMG_4197 by Momo1435, on Flickr


Amsterdam: metrostation Rokin by Erik de Haan, on Flickr


DSC01044 by job de hoop, on Flickr

*Station Vijzelgracht*









Incl. parkinggarage









The garage will be full-automatic 









IMG_4536 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_3955 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_3915 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_4015 by Momo1435, on Flickr

*Station De Pijp*










IMG_3796 by Momo1435, on Flickr











IMG_3848 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_3783 by Momo1435, on Flickr


IMG_3888 by Momo1435, on Flickr

*Europaplein*

Amsterdam, metrostation Europaplein by Tim Boric, on Flickr


IMG_3697 by Momo1435, on Flickr


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Silly_Walks said:


> There's a perfectly fine connection from Zuid to Schiphol. A >1 billion euro extension to Schiphol makes no sense.


Except that it has a special fare compared to all GVB services.

I generally like how well the Netherlands has made almost all public transportation a part of the OV Chipkaart system, but it's IMHO a failure that there still exists cards valid for one to a few days that's only valid on a specific operator rather than in a specific area.

For Schiphol it looks like a way of ripping off a bit money from visitors, even though it's a very moderate rip-off compared to many other airport connections around the world. It might not be such a big problem for Schiphol as a visitor tends to only travel that route once in each direction. But it gets more silly in the northwestern part of the old metro almost-ring in Amsterdam, where a GVB card only takes you to Ampereweg and then you have to use trams or buses to get to the central station, while pay-as-you-co and probably some more long-term cards are vaild on the NS trains.

I'm not sure if things have improved, but back in 2014 you had to manually select if your OV Chipkaart should be used for first or second class travel on the NS trains to be able to use it on the trains. Why not just default to second class? This is something that surely must cause problems for visitors.

It really gets silly when looking at the metro line between Rotterdam and den Haag, where half of the line has both RET metro and HTM trams but if you have a day card it will only be valid on either the trams (HTM) or metros (RET).




dysharmonica said:


> My concern with upgrading the Amstelveen line to proper metro is that the southern section seems perfectly suited for surface rail / light rail ... which is what it is now ... while the northern section (From Zuid to roughly Amstelveen Centrum) could use an upgrade ... so the ideal solution for the whole city would be to split the line ... and I am sure that would anger many people.


What's the difference between the northern and the southern parts? It seems like the level crossings are spread out rather equally over the whole Amstelveen line.

Or do you refer to something else like how ticket barriers are done?


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

They have this "Amsterdam Travel Ticket" now (since 2015 I believe) which includes one round-trip to/from Schiphol.

I don't think they are intentionally ripping off passengers, they are charging the normal train fare in the sector. 


GVB has been a huge beneficiary of the OV-Chipkaart system, it got substantially more money than before due to distance payments (in part by precise measurements of usage vs. regional contracted buses).


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

MiaM said:


> Except that it has a special fare compared to all GVB services.


Which is solved by fare integration for the greater Amsterdam region.

I just saved the city 1 billion euros. Where can I pick up my check? Round's on me! :cheers:


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Silly_Walks said:


> Which is solved by fare integration for the greater Amsterdam region.
> 
> I just saved the city 1 billion euros. Where can I pick up my check? Round's on me! :cheers:


The railway between Schiphol and Amsterdam cannot cope with much more traffic is Hoofddorp is to boom to previously unseen heights (it sits favorable in relate to Schiphol multi-directional 5 runways, for most part). It is one of the busiest stretches of railway network as of now, the new trakcs to Zuid help, but they don't replace a proper metro service. There are also way too many buses operating out of Schiphol that should be replaced by rail-based transit.


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Silly_Walks said:


> .
> 
> They need to upgrade the line in Amstelveen (instead of the downgrade to tram they're doing now), so you can have a proper Noord/Zuidlijn from Amstelveen all the way to Noord.


I have a strong preference for an extension to Amstelscheg instead. A metro could serve 200.000 new dwellers.


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Suburbanist said:


> The railway between Schiphol and Amsterdam cannot cope with much more traffic is Hoofddorp is to boom to previously unseen heights (it sits favorable in relate to Schiphol multi-directional 5 runways, for most part). It is one of the busiest stretches of railway network as of now, the new trakcs to Zuid help, but they don't replace a proper metro service. There are also way too many buses operating out of Schiphol that should be replaced by rail-based transit.


But not along existing track. That's not adding anything new to the network.

Build the Oost/Westlijn as originally intended in Plan Stadsspoor. It would finally give Nieuw-West (and Badhoevedorp, and Schiphol) a proper metro that extends into its far reaches. That can be extended through Hoofddorp, if necessary.

Use the 1 billion I just saved by building the most difficult bit from Centraal Station to Leidseplein


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## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

Magistraler said:


> I have a strong preference for an extension to Amstelscheg instead. A metro could serve 200.000 new dwellers.


They're not going to fill up the Amstelscheg, because there is only one proponent.


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## Magistraler (Aug 12, 2011)

Silly_Walks said:


> They're not going to fill up the Amstelscheg, because there is only one proponent.


Of course

The hundreds of thousands people that want or need to live in Amsterdam rather wait another 50 years before there will be an apartment available for them.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

It's easier to fill up a new polder in the Markenmeer I guess, with that old plan for a subway to Almere including intermediate islands with sail+ride facilities in one of them (it was quite a cool project).


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## worldpassport (Apr 18, 2015)

Does anyone know where can I find the full plans for the second phase of the noordzuid lijn? I.e: the 51 stop going to the central


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## Sixhaven (Jan 20, 2016)

There are no plans for a second phase of the Noord/Zuidlijn. The Amstelveenlijn will be converted into a light-rail line completely separate from the metro system. See: http://www.amstelveenlijn.nl


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Summary of the changes from the link posted above


 three intersections on the line along Beneluxbaan will become grade-separated
 4 stops will be removed: Amstelveen Centrum, Marne, Gondel, Spinnerij
 2 stops near VU (Boekenlaan and AJ Ernstraat) will be merged into one
 the section between Amsterdam Zuid and Amstelveen Centrum, which currently has dual-height platforms (for tram #5 and sneltram/light rail #52) will have all low-floor platforms. The rest of the platforms, currently only serving sneltram #51, will be rebuild with low platforms.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

No, all stops will get low platforms. From Amsterdam Zuid to Westwijk, and eventually the three new stops in Uithoorn from 2022.

Eventually, a new tram stop and loop will be built on top of the A10 car tunnel at Zuid. Until then the Strawinskylaan stop will be used.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

MrAronymous said:


> No, all stops will get low platforms. From Amsterdam Zuid to Westwijk, and eventually the three new stops in Uithoorn from 2022.
> 
> Eventually, a new tram stop and loop will be built on top of the A10 car tunnel at Zuid. Until then the Strawinskylaan stop will be used.


I was ambiguous, now fixed.

I really don't see why wouldn't they prefer to keep all-high platforms in the whole line, Randstad-Rail style.


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## zergcerebrates (Jan 23, 2004)

WOW! The new Amsterdam metro line is so beautiful. I think the stations are one of the best designed in the world. Its so well thought out, and the trains are nice too.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

In a way, it makes sense to break the current line at Zuid as it would be more efficient if passengers change to the new Nord-Zuidlijn when traveling between Amstelveen and central Amsterdam.

On the other hand, I think that the people living in Amstelveen will feel a bit betrayed by this change.

Just by looking at any map of how the Nord-Zuidlijn connects at Zuid, I think many expected the Amstelveenlijn to be connected to the Nord-Zuidlijn, and will feel a bit betrayed as this won't happen and the existing Metro line will be replaced by only running a tram line.

Btw what will happen with todays terminus of line 5? Will some of the trams on line 5 end there and some end at the end of the sneltram/metro line? Or will todays terminus of line 5 just be used in special cases like disruption of the southern part of the line?


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

MiaM said:


> In a way, it makes sense to break the current line at Zuid as it would be more efficient if passengers change to the new Nord-Zuidlijn when traveling between Amstelveen and central Amsterdam.
> 
> On the other hand, I think that the people living in Amstelveen will feel a bit betrayed by this change.
> 
> ...


Service will be overall faster, and when they finish rebuilding the railways at Zuid (a massive project that will see the highway, in whose median the stations is, put in a tunnel), all passengers will have to do is to go down a escalator for a quick transfer. Even with this transfer, traveling to Centraal will still be quicker than today, substantially.

Amstelveen Binnenhof stop will be removed, I'm not sure what will they do with the tracks.


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## Fatfield (Jul 26, 2010)

Drivers view of the new line M52. Posted by Rail Public Transport


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Suburbanist said:


> Amstelveen Binnenhof stop will be removed, I'm not sure what will they do with the tracks.


Why are you always spreading misinformation. It won't be removed.



MiaM said:


> On the other hand, I think that the people living in Amstelveen will feel a bit betrayed by this change.
> 
> Btw what will happen with todays terminus of line 5? Will some of the trams on line 5 end there and some end at the end of the sneltram/metro line? Or will todays terminus of line 5 just be used in special cases like disruption of the southern part of the line?


Well, extending M52 to Amstelveen was in the plans. Then they reviewed it around the time the financial crisis came about, and the Amstelveen city council found the amount they had to pay for full conversion too expensive. So then the idea of a "regional" tram came about. It was supposed to be a whole network consisting of upgraded tram lines with longer and wider low-floor vehicles and the like. But that also died a silent death, so now we're going with a regular tram line that does see some improvements when it comes to speed and reliability by improving grade seperation, but the "regional" R-net branding will just be branding and nothing really of substance.

Tram 5 will keep existing in its current form, Amstelveen Stadshart<>Amsterdam Westergasfabriek.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

MrAronymous said:


> Why are you always spreading misinformation. It won't be removed.
> 
> .


Sorry, Amstelveen Centrum will be removed.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

MrAronymous said:


> Well, extending M52 to Amstelveen was in the plans. Then they reviewed it around the time the financial crisis came about, and the Amstelveen city council found the amount they had to pay for full conversion too expensive. So then the idea of a "regional" tram came about. It was supposed to be a whole network consisting of upgraded tram lines with longer and wider low-floor vehicles and the like. But that also died a silent death, so now we're going with a regular tram line that does see some improvements when it comes to speed and reliability by improving grade seperation, but the "regional" R-net branding will just be branding and nothing really of substance.
> 
> Tram 5 will keep existing in its current form, Amstelveen Stadshart<>Amsterdam Westergasfabriek.


The thing I don't really understand is why they need to do something at all? Is it due to the wehicles needing replacement and someone just don't want to buy wehicles with metro style floor/door/platform height and the possibility to run it both with overhead wire and with third rail?

(I do however see the benefit of replacing the trams on line 5, if that haven't already been done. But that can of course be done without any change on the line - or are newer trams too long for the low part of the platforms?)


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## Momo1435 (Oct 3, 2005)

^^ Yes, the current vehicles needed to be replaced. Going for just a tram and not a continuation of the Metro/Tram combination makes it technically more reliable. No need for change between 3rd rail metro to the overhead wires of the trams. Also no solution will be needed on new vehicles for the differences in the distance between the track and the platforms on both sections on the current line. 

The whole reason for the changes to the line itself = improving grade separation = road safety. There have been too many accidents involving cars and the metro sets. The technical systems are also in need of an upgrade, it's better to do it all at once in one big bang.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Is there any talk of branching out the tram line to Aalsmeer, from the Uithoorn extension? Should be relatively easy to build a couple stops there. It would also help tourists and workers reach the massive flower auction hall, since it is on the edge of said city.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

No. The current extension to Uithoorn will follow the same alignment as the formerHaarlemmermeerspoorlijnen. From Uithoorn to Aalsmeer there was also a rail connection. You can still see the results of the former railway route in the urban planning. A busway has been built partly on it. A couple of apartment buildings have been built on the old railway yard leading up to the Aalsmeer station though.


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## lkstrknb (Jan 14, 2009)

Here is my impression of the new North/South Line about a week after it opened. It is a nice new modern metro line that took forever to build and open! Unless you followed the project or live in Amsterdam, you wouldn't know how big of a project this was!


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## radamfi (Aug 7, 2008)

Suburbanist said:


> They have this "Amsterdam Travel Ticket" now (since 2015 I believe) which includes one round-trip to/from Schiphol.


You get unlimited travel between the airport and Amsterdam, but most people will probably only use one return journey.

If you want validity on other companies other than NS and GVB, you need the Amsterdam and Region ticket. The Amsterdam Travel Ticket allows the 397 and N97 Connexxion routes only.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

How did you like the ultra-long escalators at De Pijp? (I believe they are longer than the ones at RET station Blijdorp?)


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Here's a look at the new M7 metro stock by CAF. Visually it's mostly the same as the M5/M6. Biggest differences are different headlights, larger and more tv screens, trains of only half the length (60m). 

Length and door configurations are such that a coupled M7 will have the same door spacing as an M5, in case platform screen doors are going to be used in the future. Talks are that a future Sixhaven station (line 52) would get those, as it would have a narrow infill platform. Either that, or having to expensively relay all the cables in the tunnel.

Will be used on Ring and East lines, replacing the light rail vehicles. Due 2022.




























In other news, the EBS regional buses have become electric. Connecting Edam and Amsterdam Central.










In other news, the old and cramped RAI metro station will get bike garage and station hall extensions. The new design will match the new enlarged train hall next to it, which got enlarged when new train platforms were added a couple of years ago.



































@_studiosk


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

GVB has signed a contract with VDL Bus & Coach for 31 electric buses, with an option for an additional 69 vehicles, after a European public tender. First vehicles on the road in 2020.

_______________


The Transport Region has published a webtool which makes public transport (usage) data public.

_______________

Some images of the new CAF 15G trams undergoing static tests in the factory in Zaragoza.


Reams said:


>





Wilhem275 said:


>


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Beginning 2019.03.03, metro line 51 will be rerouted so that its terminus will no longer be Westwijk but instead will be Isolatorweg. The surface portion of the old metro line 51 will be rebuilt as an express line tram. New metro line 51 will be almost a loop line, similar to the "M" train in New York City, which has two termini not far from each other in Queens.

Service map from 2019.03.03:









https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AmsterdamMetro51From2019.svg

Improvements on the temporarily discontinued version south of Amsterdam-Zuid include:


Tracks, points, power lines and technical systems will be replaced or overhauled.
Three crossings – on Beneluxbaan, at Kronenburg, Zonnestein and Sportlaan – will become split-level and will be located in open tunnels.
Four stops will be discontinued: Amstelveen Centrum, Marne, Gondel and Spinnerij. The De Boelelaan/VU and A.J. Ernststraat stops will merge into one new stop, at a new location between the two.
All other stops will be renewed and adjusted, to accommodate the new low-entry trams, which have been ordered by GVB.
https://ucarecdn.com/ce88362e-8bf5-...d/Factsheet+Amstelveenlijn+September+2018.pdf


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## Arnorian (Jul 6, 2010)

Are there plans to close the loop?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The city is currently investigating the options. Surrounding the Isolatorweg terminus there is a lot of high density development planned, so the route could really impact mobility. They're investigating 2 options for going to Central Station and an option to go to Noorderpark. 

As logical as it may seem to close the loop to Central, you have to keep in mind future extension plans. The lines currently going to Central were originally planned to continue south-westwards.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

That probably won't happen. However, closing the loop seems a viable option for the more distant future (after 2030). I don't think they will use it for a full circle line, though. Some earlier studies suggested a number of lines using parts of the loop line, with two of them terminating at Lelylaan station from either direction.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

There recently was an uproar in local Amsterdam media because some marketing agency decided to mention the somewhat notorious Bos en Lommer neigbourhood right next to a new upscale housing project as 'Bois & Lombre', faux French (Bush & Shade in English). :lol:

In response to that people on Twitter started frenchifying other neighbourhoods and local business names. Some guy translated Alargule's (the guy above this post) metro map into French. 










Very well translated I must say. Rotterdam and The Hague followed suit, though not aware of the original context.

__________


More uproar as several media sources reported the CEO of Schiphol Airport said that the metro connection from Schiphol to Amsterdam Zuid was a done deal. Turns out it isn't a done deal at all. The Prime Minister is gathering information with the representatives of the 4 largest Dutch cities what their transport infrastructure wishes are though. 

__________


Noord station's bike parking is finally about to open in February. Metro line has been up and running since July last year.










__________


In January construction has started on the new stairs between the main hall and the metro hall at Central Station











__________


Apparently a new tram line is being considered from Sloterdijk to Centraal. Large parts of this route are about to get dense development (Haven-Stad).


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

That new tram line is needed, badly. Parts of the route near Centraal Station even had tram tracks laid until 2012 or so, I believe.

Spaarndanmeerbuurt is poorly serviced with only one tram line (although a more useful one now that we have Metro 52).

When I lived in Tilburg I remember a colleague making light fun of the city since it didn't have a French denonyn like his city Bois-le-Duc a.k.a. 's-Hertogenbosch


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## LtBk (Jul 27, 2004)

What are the current public transport projects in Amsterdam aside from that new tram line?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

-Amstelveenlijn tram conversion (see vehicle below)
-investigating new metro routes Haven-Stad
-investigating new metro route to Schiphol
-re-arranging the tracks behind Dam Square
-[future] new Zuid tram and bus stations + extending line 24 to Zuid
-[future] extending tram 26 to Strandeiland
-[future] transit bridge from Flevopark to Zeeburgereiland

15G tram testing, to be used on tram 26 and Amstelveenlijn: 

317054567

Digging works at Centraal


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## Wilhem275 (Apr 7, 2006)

Woonsocket54 said:


>



I like the idea of this semi-loop 51, it's also good for balancing frequencies.


But I read about a plan to limit 53 to Van der Madeweg and let only 51 and 54 proceed to CS, is there anything true?




Also, was there ever a plan to connect the new N-Z line to the east as well? Making a triangle Zuid-Europaplein-Overamstel.
I don't know if the planned frequency for line 52 leaves any gap.


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## The Polwoman (Feb 21, 2016)

^^ I'm sure there's no plan like that in the pipeline. The planned frequency is, afaik, 16-18tph. In an ideal situation that isn't too much for a branch but that's only when all of the stuff is automated. And we're way too greedy for that to happen.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The plan was to let 53 stop at Van der Madeweg (D), because there it already has a times cross-platform transfer with 50. Travelers would basically lose no time. 

The reason for that plan is because ridership on the 53 is relatively low compared to the other lines and they want to increase frequencies. Having 3 lines on the tunneled section to Central Station isn't practical in that sense. 

They postponed that. A step further would be to untangle the entire system (A) for higher frequencies and more reliability.



Wilhem275 said:


> Also, was there ever a plan to connect the new N-Z line to the east as well? Making a triangle Zuid-Europaplein-Overamstel.


There are hundreds of other routes that deserve construction before this. It just isn't really that practical or necessary. They did take it into account when making the walls of line 52 by using no/less rebar in a section.


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

It is interesting how Sparkleweg, which was once in a rather desolate/empty area, is set to become the hub of a cluster or high-density buildings  It is as good as transit-oriented developed one can get in Amsterdam other than Zuid.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Yep, most densification in the city is going on along the metro lines. Even suburban Ouder-Amstel will put up some higher density next to Van der Madweg and Duivendrecht.


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## Wilhem275 (Apr 7, 2006)

MrAronymous said:


> The plan was to let 53 stop at Van der Madeweg (D), because there it already has a times cross-platform transfer with 50. Travelers would basically lose no time.



I agree that travel time for 53 users would be pretty much the same, but cutting the 53 means also a drop in frequencies for the Gein branch.


From Gein one can reach CS using both 54 and 50, direct or with a cross platform transfer with 53. If 53 is limited, 50 becomes useless to reach CS.
Also, there's extensive infrastructure between Van der Madeweg and Spaklerweg designed specifically for that purpouse (the double "Y" flying junctions), which then goes to waste.




I understand why they had reliability issues with the Amstelveenlijn and wanted to separate it from the core network, but really they have problems running 3 full-metro services on a corridor with grade separation?




Another possibility allowed by the current infra is to limit 51 to Spaklerweg and let only 53 and 54 to CS, again with cross platform transfer.

After all, with the new line there's no more need for a direct connection CS-Zuid via Amstel. But maybe it's not a good thing to need a transfer between CS and RAI.


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

No worries, the unsavoury plan to curtail the 53 probably won't resurface.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Cutting the 53 seems like a good way to activate protests...


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

It did. Though probably not the reason why the plan has been canceled.


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## Building_63 (Jul 4, 2017)

What're the plans/proposals like for the Metro line to Schiphol? I'm guessing it's going to Zuid first, is it going to follow 51 or 52 for capacity/speed to Centraal? 

Is it going to be possible to have a more dedicated line in the future? I can see a new line starting at Schiphol then following 50 North to Lelylaan or Postjesweg then East to Kinkerbuurt (I'm thinking for Ten Katemarkt), Leidseplein, Rokin, Centraal and then maybe continuing to Haven-Stad then towards either IJburg or Science Park that could become a loop by continuing to Amstel, Europaplein, Zuid, Amstelveenseweg, and Schiphol again.


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

^^ I think this was disussed just a few pages ago in this thread, with links to maps or maps directly in this thread. Not sure if anything has changed since then though.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Today is the last day of line 51 light rail service to Amstelveen. From Sunday there will be replacement bus services and increased line 5 tram frequencies. From 2020 the new low floor trams will ride this route, with new low-floor platforms and 3 new grade seperated junctions/stations.



MrAronymous said:


> Sacharovlaan
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## autobussen (Aug 8, 2014)

*Last Days of Metro 51 to Amstelveen*

Last days of Metro 51 to Amstelveen


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Amstelveen Line/Amsteltram: 



the runner said:


> Amstelveen Centrum





MrAronymous said:


> Marne
> 
> 
> 
> ...





the runner said:


> Ouderkerkerlaan





MrAronymous said:


> First vehicles are on their way


Amsterdam Centraal: Cuypers Stairs



MrAronymous said:


>





fridayinla said:


>


Station RAI: metro hall and bike parking


MrAronymous said:


>


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## Alargule (Feb 21, 2005)

Test.


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## subbotazh (Feb 4, 2015)

https://twitter.com/Vervoerregio/status/1121667992150953987


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The worksite has become artified 


leperd said:


>


Meanwhile the project has been delayed because the soil conditions weren't as stable as they thought.


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

edit


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## Mr_Dru (Dec 15, 2008)

*First testride CAF tram in the city *(Amstelveenlijn 5)


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## MiaM (Jul 2, 2010)

Seems it never rains in Utihorn... 

Isn't there enough rain and snow to justify a better roof at the tram stops, especially the end stop in Uithorn where I assume a lot of people would interchange between tram and bus?


I had a look at the wikipedia page (both the dutch and the german) about R-NET. Can't find much about the organisation. Is it just like a common name and a group where various public transport organisations meet and kind of just puts the R-NET sticker on stuff? Or do they actually have a real budget and use that for funding public transit?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Amsterdam is pretty shit when it comes to the size or amount of shelters. But it only snows a few days per year (if at all) and rains 7% of the time (incl nights).

R-net is a 'quality mark' for 'high quality public transit'. Meaning fast, comfortable and high frequency. It started out as a bus rapid transit line from Amsterdam Bijlmer Arena via Schiphol Airport to Haarlem (Zuidtangent) but is now used throughout the Randstad(-net!) urban area. Most of the Amsterdam regional buses now use it. It also has a couple of local train lines. 

As more and more lines are added, the brand has been deluded because not all lines are as high frequency or have segregated infrastructure with priority signaling. It's also pretty useless, as it mostly hides the company that actually operates the lines, which take care of complaints and tickets. R-net as an entity does nothing. It's also useless in the sense that it is supposed to be a quality mark, as if there are lots of options to choose from. But often there isn't, and R-net lines are the only (reasonable) routes for many people. Meanwhile for many people the local bus service has gotten worse because its frequency got lower in favour of the R-net lines and some stops have been removed because a regular local bus line turned into R-net.


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Amsteltram

Extending from Westwijk terminus to new rail yard (white building is the former house of the signal man of the Legmeer station)



























New rail yard









Kronenburg underpass looking more and more ready for traffic









Viaduct extensions at Ouderkerkerlaan (new bus lane and for more room for cyclists pedestrians)









__________________
15G Trams appear to have automatic ramps. The old models have big manual ones which are an operational disaster.



mojoland said:


>


__________________
First electric bus has arrived. First fleet will be of 31 buses with an option on 69 extra. Planning is in 2025 all city buses are no emission.



Reams said:


>


__________________
Cuyperstrap at Central Station. Should be ready before summer.












sergiogiorgini said:


>


__________________
Amstel Station renovation in full swing



MrAronymous said:


> Google


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

What is Cuyperstrap at Central Station?


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## Puinkabouter (Jan 8, 2007)

The Cuyperstrap (Cuypers is the architect who designed the train station, trap means "stairs") is a stairway that will allow people to transfer between trains and metro without having to step outside Central Station.


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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal









Remainder of Amsterdam transit project split and retendered


The Netherlands government and Amsterdam municipality have announced an updated tendering structure for the Zuidasdok project




www.railjournal.com


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

The whole project, which has taken about 20 years to get to the point we are now (partly under construction, partly shovel in the groud ready), has been reevaluated by the Minister of State on its merits and need. Her conclusion was that the project in its current form should proceed and there is no area where cost cuts should or could be made. In fact, her recommendation was that this very important project could do with some extra ambition.

The original plan was to put the highway under the ground in tunnels as well as the train station and to build high rises on top. The current project already is a compromise, as the station will remain above ground, with the highrises cancelled. Many Dutch forum users don't like the fact that they're not building a large train shed but rather some small platform roofings. It's supposed to become one of the most important stations in the country after all, serving the high speed lines from elsewhere in Europe too.


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## Tramwayman (Jan 22, 2009)




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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Metro Report:









 Amsterdam exercises tram option


NETHERLANDS: Amsterdam city transport operator GVB has awarded CAF a firm contract to supply a further nine Urbos trams to increase capacity on the network. The order announced by the Spanish manufacturer on June 24 has been placed as the first option on a contract signed in ...




www.railwaygazette.com


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

Expanded RAI Station hall and new bike parking.

Before:









After:


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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:









Conversion of Amstelveen line to light rail complete


The conversion of the Amstelveen hybrid LRV/light metro line into a conventional light rail line has been completed, with the line due to reopen in December




www.railjournal.com


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## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Will Uithoorn join the GVB single-fare area for purposes of long-term subscriptions?


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

No. The general transit (buses) are done by Connexxion, just like Amstelveen. But the tram line will be operated by GVB so regular GVB policies apply there.

Some areal shots of Zonnestein and Kronenburg on the Amsteltram


MrAronymous said:


> Kronenburg
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Testing of Amstelveenlijn section has begun







Reams said:


> Nog wat meer plaatjes van de tram op het zuidelijke tracé. Ziet er netjes uit allemaal.​
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Boelelaan/VU station has ceased to exist on tram 5, 6 (and future 25). It merged with A.J. Ernststraat which is just 200m further.

The western tram stops at Central Station have now been totally overhauled and are back in use.


Reams said:


> Zo zag het er vrijdag uit.


For the next 2 years tram 3 and 5 will switch termini, as tram 5 runs with bidirectional vehicles. They used to cross over at Marnixplein. Marnixstraat will be closed because of a bridge replacement.


Reams said:


>


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## BillyF (Nov 16, 2019)

Very high frequencies, common stop for the bus and the tram ... The Netherlands is pure happiness for public transport!


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## mw123 (Oct 23, 2009)

Love those electric articulated buses!


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## BillyF (Nov 16, 2019)

The new 15G tram (CAF Urbos 100) being tested in the streets of Amsterdam city center


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## BillyF (Nov 16, 2019)

Trams at Amsterdam Centraal


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## BillyF (Nov 16, 2019)

Memory of last September, in Amsterdam


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## BillyF (Nov 16, 2019)

The amazing Amstelstation in Amsterdam


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## MrAronymous (Aug 7, 2011)

A coalition of 7 organizations (Regional transit authority, City of Amsterdam, Municipality of Haarlemmermeer, Province Noord-Holland, KLM, Dutch Railways and Schiphol Airport) have made a bid to the national government with the pledge to spend 1 bln euros on the extension of line 52 from Zuid to Hoofddorp via Schiphol Airport and also the closing of the 'Ring Line' from Isolatorweg to Central Station. The national government set up a fund for important transit investments when the national budget had a surplus, pre-corona. The exact variants of these metro extentions routes are currently being investigated.

















More 15G testing pics on Amsteltram. Interestingly they seem to have installed the Siemens Combino bell on some of the models (like at 1:42). Hopefully they will do that on all of them, as it's much better sounding.






Coupled Combinos on line 26 in regular service now.






What a new 15G looks like in GVB colours:









Pictures of the M7 metro type production. Looks fairly similar to the M5 with some differences; a very ugly and barely legible LED number and destination sign up front, different headlights (rounded), slightly less long windows on the side, double the amount of information screens on board, but still with lousy placement. And of course with a much different length (less than half a M5) which was decided years ago as a cost saving measure but will bite them in the ass as these apparantly will not be able to run on line 52 because of it.































Plan to improve the entrance to Spaklerweg entrance as currently it's being used much more since new residential neighbourhoods are being constructed on both sides next to it


















A few days ago a river cargo ship crashed into a ferry.

__ https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1329873018575859719


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