Amersfoort Centraal is the main

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

in the province of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. The station was an important link between the western part of the Netherlands and the north and east of the country until December 2012 when the Hanzelijn opened.

History

The original station building opened on 20 August 1863, and closed in 1904. It was called Amersfoort NCS and is located next to the railway tracks east of the end of the platforms of the current station. This first station opened as part of the Utrecht–Kampen railway ("Centraalspoorweg"), which runs from

via Amersfoort to

Zwolle Zwolle () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the Capital city, capital of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel ...

and Kampen. In 1874 the '' Gooilijn'' opened, running from

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

via

Hilversum Hilversum () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is ...

to Amersfoort. Two years later the line was extended to form the '' Oosterspoorweg'' ("East rail line") from Amersfoort to

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

and

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...

. In 1886 a railway line opened from Amersfoort to Kesteren, offering a direct service between Amsterdam and

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

. However, the 1863 station was just too far east for the line, and so another station was built on the Kesteren line, called Amersfoort Stad. Parts of the Kesteren line still exist today. To permit connections between the two stations, a third station was built, called ''Amersfoort Aansluiting'' (“Amersfoort Connection”). Because this meant there were three stations all close to each other, it was decided to consolidate them and the current station was built and opened in 1901. It was renovated in 1997, at which time a third island-platform, as well as an exit on the north side of the station, were built. Since 1970, Amersfoort has been important for intercity passengers, as it was the only station where all cross country intercity trains from Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam to Leeuwarden, Groningen and Enschede met. Passengers only need to cross to the other side of an island platform to change for trains to other destinations. Since December 2012 and the opening of the Hanzelijn, trains from The Hague and Amsterdam now travel via Lelystad to Zwolle, avoiding Amersfoort. A second station was opened in Amersfoort in 1987, called Amersfoort Schothorst, and in 2006 a third was opened, Amersfoort Vathorst. Both these stations are on the Amersfoort – Zwolle line. The Centraalspoorweg between Amersfoort and Zwolle is also known as the Veluwelijn. A new fly-under was opened on 18 October 2013, after two years of construction, to allow trains from Hilversum to access Platform 1 without crossing the other lines. The cost was €44.5 million.

Train services

, the following train services call at this station: *Express services: **International ''Intercity'': Amsterdam - Amersfoort - Hengelo - Osnabrück - Hanover - Berlin **''Intercity'': Schiphol - Hilversum - Amersfoort - Hengelo - Enschede **''Intercity'': Schiphol - Hilversum - Amersfoort - Amersfoort Schothorst **''Intercity'': Amsterdam - Hilversum - Amersfoort (- Deventer) **''Intercity'': Rotterdam - Utrecht - Amersfoort - Zwolle - Groningen **''Intercity'': Rotterdam - Utrecht - Amersfoort - Zwolle - Leeuwarden **''Intercity'': The Hague - Utrecht - Amersfoort - Hengelo - Enschede **''Intercity'': The Hague - Utrecht - Amersfoort - Amersfoort Schothorst **International ''

European Sleeper European Sleeper (stylised as european sleeper) is a Belgian–Dutch cooperative which operates a thrice-weekly Open-access operator, open-access night train service between Brussels and Prague, with plans to expand to daily service in the near ...

'' service: Brussels - Amsterdam - Berlin - Prague *Local services: **''Sprinter'': Utrecht - Amersfoort - Zwolle **''Sprinter'': Hoofddorp - Amsterdam - Hilversum - Amersfoort Vathorst **''Stoptrein'': Amersfoort - Barneveld - Ede-Wageningen **''Stoptrein'': Amersfoort - Barneveld Zuid

Bus services

Bus services depart from the bus station at the front of the station; services are operated by Syntus and U-OV (52, 72). *1: Park Bilthoven - Soesterkwartier/Isselt - Station *2: Station - Nieuwland *3: Station - Vathorst *4: Station - Hoogland - Kattenbroek *5: Station - City Centre - Schothorst - Vathorst *6: Station - City Centre - Rustenburg - Liendert *7: Station - Schothorst - Vathorst *8: Station - City Centre - Vermeerkwartier - Schullenburg *9 Station - Leusderkwartier - Eemgaarde *17: Amersfoort - Leusden *19: Station - Rusthof Cemetery *52: Amersfoort - Soesterberg - Huis ter Heide - Zeist North - De Bilt - Utrecht *56: Amersfoort - Soesterberg - Huis ter Heide - Zeist - Driebergen-Zeist - Doorn - Wijk bij Duurstede *70: Amersfoort - Soest Zuid - Soestdijk North - Hilversum *72: Amersfoort - Soesterberg - Zeist - Utrecht *76: Amersfoort - Bunschoten - Spakenburg *(X)80: Amersfoort - Leusden South - Woudenberg - Scherpenzeel - Veenendaal - Rhenen *82: Amersfoort - Leusden South - Woudenberg - Maarn - Doorn *102: Amersfoort - Hoevelaken - Zwartebroek - Terschuur - Voorthuizen - Nieuw Millingen - Apeldoorn *217: Amersfoort - Leusden *280: Amersfoort - Leusden South - Woudenberg - Maarsbergen - Veenendaal *356 Amersfoort - Soesterberg, National Military Museum

References

External links

NS website

Dutch public transport travel planner

Live departures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amersfoort Centraal Railway Station Centraal Railway stations in the Netherlands opened in 1863 Railway stations in the Netherlands opened in 1901 Railway stations on the Centraalspoorweg Railway stations on the Valleilijn Railway stations on the Veluwelijn