Increased capacity at Schiphol for growing number of public transport passengers
Investment of 237 million euros By 2025 at the latest, passengers will benefit from an improved train and bus station at Schiphol. An investment of 237 million euros will increase the capacity of the station area, improve the station layout and create more logical walking routes for passengers. The improvements and funding are being achieved through cooperation between the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management, the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, the Amsterdam Transport Authority, NS, ProRail and Schiphol.
The platforms at Schiphol Airport station will have more entrances, resulting in the better use of the station, more space and improved ease of travel for passengers. There will also be a new bus station in the form of a bus island with direct access to the station, more logical walking routes and more space at Schiphol Plaza. The train station will also be provided with access gates. The parties are also fully committed to additional measures including rush hour avoidance, crowd control during peak hours and improved train timetables. In 2023, NS will introduce the Airport Sprinter between Amsterdam Central Station and Schiphol/Hoofddorp. The Sprinters will depart 8x per hour from a fixed platform.
Promoting accessibility
‘This will help to make Schiphol easier to reach by public transport,’ says Schiphol CEO Dick Benschop. ‘We are very pleased with this joint investment. After this, the extension of the North/South line to Schiphol and Hoofddorp is the next important step.’
Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management: "Railway stations should be comfortable places for train passengers to visit during their journey. The same goes for the Schiphol railway station, where the number of passengers has been growing at an extremely rapid pace. By investing in the station now, we can ensure that, in a few years' time, 120,000 passengers will be able to comfortably use the station every day."
Roger van Boxtel, CEO of NS: ‘By means of this plan, developed in close cooperation with our partners, we are offering extra space for our train passengers. In addition, the access gates will soon ensure a clear and unambiguous journey. Both are essential for the convenience and safety of our customers.’
‘We are proud to be working together to improve Schiphol's accessibility and safety in the shorter term,’ says Marja Ruigrok, portfolio holder for the Amsterdam Transport Authority. ‘We are pleased with the arrival of the new bus station, which will make Schiphol even more easily accessible by bus. It will also be easier for passengers to transfer from the train to the bus and vice versa.’
John Voppen, CEO of ProRail: ‘Schiphol is very important for the Netherlands. This plan will enable us to cope with the huge increase in passengers in the years ahead. The growth is happening so fast that we want to get started as soon as possible.’
Schiphol Multimodal Hub
The Schiphol Multimodal Hub (SMH) combines many functions in a relatively small area. The train station has become one of the five largest stations in the Netherlands with an average of 109,000 passengers boarding, alighting and transferring daily. 140 public transport buses pass through Schiphol-Centre every hour and Schiphol Plaza is the entrance to the airport, with a walking transfer to the nearby car parks and offices. The current SMH was built in the 1990s and modifications are needed to create sufficient capacity for the growing number of passengers.
Planning
On Wednesday 20 November, the plans were approved in the Administrative Consultation of the Multi-year Infrastructure, Spatial Planning and Transport Programme (MIRT). This means that the parties involved agree and will implement the plans. The aim is to have the designs ready by the beginning of 2022, after which their realisation will begin. The majority of the plans are expected to be completed by 2025. The government is contributing 78.8 million euros, Schiphol 69.4 million, the Amsterdam Transport Authority 69.2 million and NS 20 million.
Future solutions
With the investment, Schiphol's train and bus station is expected to offer sufficient capacity for the medium term. However, more will be needed in the longer term. This is partly due to the desire to create more space for international trains, the anticipated growth in the number of jobs and residents of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region (MRA) and the passenger growth. The new ‘Building Accessibility Together’ programme examines the evolution of the MRA across the board, including the overall transport system. Solutions under consideration include the extension of the North/South line to Schiphol and Hoofddorp and the closure of the small Amsterdam metro line. A number of studies on this subject were completed in the spring of 2020 and will serve as the basis for the plans in the