I hadn't been to Amsterdam for some 10
years, and for a good reason, because the next thing I wanted to see
was the Noord/Zuidlijn in operation, and that was delayed by many
years, difficult to say nowadays by how many, at least 7. In my book
"Metros in Holland", published in 2007, I quoted the
scheduled opening date as 2013, well, now we know, it took until
2018, but at last, it is open and functioning. So I decided to go for
the opening, as it doesn't happen too often nowadays in Europe that
entire lines are put into operation.
All in all it's a good line, it will
hopefully transform the city's transport network entirely as it is
the north-south spine, the kind of route that is usually built as a
city's first metro line, but for several reasons, the Oostlijn was
built first, and with all the complications occurred in the
construction of that line in the 1970s, the city preferred to
postpone any more underground construction in the city centre and
subsequently just developed the easy-to-build ring line. Eventually
the Noord/Zuidlijn came back to the surface as tunnelling with boring
machines seemed more feasible now rather than the caisson method used
on the Oostlijn's underground stretch. But with Amsterdam's delicate
soil even this proved difficult, and the stations were built as
cut-and-cover boxes anyway. This caused some problems especially in
the Vijzelgracht area leading to those delays.
I have travelled the new line up and
down quite thoroughly over three days. On Saturday, July 21st, after
the official inauguration, it was free to ride for everybody, and
although they had issued special online access tickets, noone care
about them and doors were just open (I had registered for three of
four slots...). Sunday, 22nd, was full with locals exploring the new
line and on both days I didn't see major agglomerations or
disruptions, just the next-train indicators did not work, simply
saying M52 passes every 6 minutes. Monday, 23rd, was then the first
normal day of service, when I also took it to travel from
Vijzelgracht, where my hotel was, to Zuid, to catch a train to
Utrecht. On this occasion, the train was stopped for several minutes
at Europaplein as apparently the single track dedicated to M52 at
Zuid was not empty yet. This is probably the major flaw of the whole
line - the southern terminus being very basic. And as it seems, the
signalling block is far too long, and the train can't leave
Europaplein before Zuid is empty, but the distance is quite long
between these two stations. Zuid thus also determines the minimum
headway, which at 6 minutes is not too frequent for a brand new trunk
metro route. As for now, no real project is approved for some kind of
extension beyond Zuid. Instead, Sneltram line M51 would be cut into
two separate services, in fact the future M51 becoming a sort of ring
line continuing to Isolatorweg, while the light rail-style route to
Amstelveen and Westwijk would be served by a low-floor tram line
which would terminate outside Zuid station. In this way, there would
be two tracks available for M52 at Zuid. The discussion about allthese projects, however, is still going on. Personally I have no
preferred option, but some sort of southern extension, either to
Amstelveen or Schiphol should be built to give the entire line more
direct passengers as for now it is actually a rather short line. At
the northern end, there are not many options, as the line now
terminates at the edge of the built-up area, and two branches as
proposed in the old days would require long curves.
Except for the constraints at Zuid and
the not yet working next-train indicators, I have not observed any
technical flaws. The Alstom trains, which are the same as on the
other lines where they have replaced all the older stock since my
last visit, are spacious and pleasant. I was hoping strongly that the
opening of the Noord/Zuidlijn would be accompanied by a new numbering
system. I find M50-M54 quite ridiculous for a metro system, when
everywhere in the world metros usually have low numbers or letters or
colours. Letters were probably ruled out as this would mean copying
Rotterdam's system, and low numbers were not used to avoid confusion
with trams. But lots of other cities have a metro line M1 and also a
tram line no. 1 and noone gets confused.
The design of the stations does not
produce an immediate "wow" effect and compared to recent
projects I have visited (Warsaw's M2, Düsseldorf's Wehrhahn tram
tunnel and Helsinki's Länsimetro) this was the least exciting. It's
not bad, but maybe a bit sober and dark. Someone mentioned to me that
the architects argued that they chose those simple (though
high-quality) claddings because the colour would be added by the
people - what a silly approach... normal commuters often are grey and
grumpy and add little colour! Instead, the environment they have to
stay in waiting for their train should be pleasant to cheer up their
day. That's why Moscow's metro stations were built as palaces from
the beginning. Anyway, compared to the older underground stations in
Amsterdam, the new ones look very spacious, and most are enhanced
with some work of art to improve the overall look. Let's have a look
station by station, starting in the north:
NOORD - very pleasant platform level
with an overall swung roof and convenient bus bays on either side of
the station for onward travellers. Surprisingly, most areas below the
platform were not finished yet, not even the GVB office as if noone
had believed that this line would ever open. By personal experience
(waiting for friends to arrive) I also know that the P+R facility is
badly signed especially from urban roads, while from motorway
accesses it should be visible. The artwork is on the platform floor
in form of birds and other figures engraved in the pavement:
NOORDERPARK - first problem here is
that the name is too similar to the terminus, no idea why they didn't
keep the Johan van Hasseltweg name as used in the project phase. This
surface station is simpler than Noord, and not the entire platform is
covered. There is an artwork in the form of ruins beyond the southern
end of the platform (thus difficult to take pictures from the
platform against the sun!). Also here, a bus bay was built for routes
serving the neighbourhoods. Both surface station in the Noord
district have been criticised for being too far from where people
live, as the line runs in the median of a motorway, but at both
stations some construction activity is going on to insert them into a
more urban environment:
CENTRAAL STATION - extremely sober
platform area contrasting with the cathedral-like area at the
southern end. The station lies like a box below the main railway
station (built with caissons like the adjoining river crossing). From
the northern end of the side platforms, quite direct flights of
escalators lead to the northern, more modern concourse, above which
the bus station is located and the ferry terminal is just a short
walk away. From the southern end of the platforms, separate
escalators lead up to the mezzanine from where exits go to the tram
stops and the side entrances of the railway station. To change to the
old Metro lines, another set of escalators goes up directly to the
platform level, you just walk left for some 50 m and there the M51,
M53 or M54 train waits for you. So this is a rather convenient
interchange. The funny thing is that if the old line is ever extended
towards Isolatorweg (and I hope it will), the eastbound track will
run through this transfer corridor (which would then become
narrower), whereas the westbound track would require a bridge
structure through the columns of the "cathedral". I don't
know up to which level this has been prepared, at least the position
of the pillars should make this possible. So, maybe in 10 years we
can see a Sneltram train crossing the Noord/Zuidlijn station in an
encased bridge, just like tram 306 does at Bochum's Rathaus Süd
station.
ROKIN - actually a plain station with
island platform but for the waiting passengers probably the most
interesting station on the line as the walls are full with diverse
motives that ought to be related to the houses above, so a paintbrush
may be a hint that there is (or used to be) a painter's shop, for
example. As all underground stations, it has exits at either end:
VIJZELGRACHT - very deep plain island
platform, while the artwork is more of the contemplative type above
the southern sets of escalators. This is dedicated to local artist
Ramses Shaffy and shows the different stages in his life in the form
of metro lines, which are gradually illuminated and eventually show
his face. So, a nice light installation which will cause some people
to stop for a while to observe how it develops as it takes several
minutes to complete:
DE PIJP - the most noteworthy thing
here is the fact that the platforms are located on top of each other,
making the entire station rather narrow, with entrances placed into
new buildings. There is some sort of artwork along the mezzanine
wall, but not too apparent:
EUROPAPLEIN - has side platforms with
widened end sections to cope with larger crowds during events at the
exhibition centre it serves. Here some visual extra is added in the
form of a pinkish film and some large-scale images on the walls:
ZUID - as stated before, is a very
basic and probably ever since the first trains stopped here, a rather
temporary station. Even for the railway, it is more like a 4-track
stop, a few shops in the passageway under the tracks but not really a
proper station. It is supposed to become a major station, but that
was already the plan 10 years ago and nothing much has happened
since. The so-called "Zuidas" project would see the
parallel motorway in tunnel and the entire station rebuilt (plus an
M52 extension or not), but even if this goes ahead, it will take many
years to finish. Now from the arriving M52 you can change to a
westbound M50 or a southbound M51 just across the platform. M52
trains could go to some sidings further west, but they would have to
cross the southbound M51 track at grade:
So let's hope that Amsterdamers and
tourists will benfit from the new line so that some proposals for
more lines may be rediscovered. Luckily, the closure of the gap
between Isolatorweg and Centraal is one of the options, and for me
the most urgent to create a proper network. Amsterdam's trams are a
lot of fun, of course, but they are not really fast, despite their
drivers going pretty fast. On the occasion of the opening of the
Noord/Zuidlijn, the tram network was restructured although the number
of trams serving the Centraal Station has not really diminished.
Three lines now serve the semi-circular route along Weteringschans
via Weesperplein and Vijzelgracht. Line 16 was cancelled, thus
leaving some sections without passenger service, no idea whether this
is for good, or just temporary as there was some road construction
starting along its route. Otherwise on the tram front, nothing much
had changed since my last visit, the new CAF trams are expected next
year to replace some of those old high-floor trams still in use
today.
While the new R-Net livery looks quite o.k. on the new metro
trains and even on the repainted CAF Sneltram stock, I hope that the
tram will be delivered in the classic blue/white livery. The R-Net
branding is also visible on the new metro logo, but after talking to
some local people I came to the conclusion that this sort of
rebranding is completely useless. Noone knows what R-Net stands for
and why all cities in the Randstad should use it. A typical case of
some manager's decision to leave his stamp on something entirely
meaningless. I'm sure that by the time it is implemented more or less
around the region some other guy will come up and invent a new brand.
What has been implemented completely
since my last visit, when only Rotterdam Metro had started, is the
nationwide OV-Chipkaart. In this respect, the Netherlands are
certainly a world leader. This means you just use the same plastic
card for any kind of transport in the entire country. As a visitor,
of course, you need to get one first for 7.50 €, then you add any
amount of money and travel as you please. While this is excellent and
really easy for the occasional traveller, it has some disadvantages,
of course, as you need to check in and out everywhere, even on city
buses. You always pay a distance-based fare (and 4 € if you forget
to check out on urban transport vehicles). This procedure can be
quite slow on trams and buses when there are a lot of people. You can
use the card also on NS trains, but if you get to an area where a
train of a different company stops at the same platform you first
need to check out from NS and then check in at the private operator's
pole (usually located side-by-side). This is also the case at the
shared Amstel NS/metro station, where there is cross-platform
interchange but no gates on the platform.
If you want to travel
within Amsterdam by tram and metro, a GVB day pass or for various
days is probably the better option, but it is not valid on NS trains
or other buses (funnily those in R-Net livery...). Besides the
Netherlands, only Japan offers a similar one-card-for-all payment
system although not implemented everywhere there.
In the early 2000s, Amsterdam started a
metromorphose programme which as a pilot project saw a completely
rebuilt Ganzenhoef station. But later only small changes were made to
the existing surface stations, mostly those concrete walls were
removed from the platforms and replaced by transparent glass
wind-protection walls. They could have used some striking colours to
paint the metal supports. Currently all the underground stations are
under refurbishment, with all ceilings having been removed and in
some, new tiling was visible, quite a pleasant style:
Inside the metro and tram cars there is
quite a nice diagram map called Railkaart (PDF), which is also available at
the GVB website. Unfortunately, their employees know nothing about it
and it is not available to take away. Neither were there any
giveaways on opening day, just a small brochure about Art on the
Metro and some photocopied sheets about connecting bus routes. GVB
had an updated version of their geographical map (PDF), though, but
unfortunately, this has not improved in the last 10+ years. I find it
rather impossible to read, especially for visitors, and I will never
understand why the stops are not shown with a name tag. Unfortunately
this kind of map is still also visible in other Dutch cities,
although also Den Haag has a nice diagrammatic tram map.
I may be back to Amsterdam next year
for a short visit, but I will certainly visit the other Dutch cities
with trams as I'm preparing a "Tram Atlas Benelux" for late
2019. I hope by then also the new line in Utrecht will be ready which
I had the pleasure to explore by bicycle with some local experts. All
seems to be in place, but some buildings around the railway station
which are emerging above the tram tracks seem to delay the final
work. But I'm looking forward to the Budapest-style CAF trams in
operation:
LINKS
UrbanRail.Net > Amsterdam
