Amsterdam Centraal Station in the Netherlands – monochrome

by Silva Wischeropp

This architectural photograph was taken on 13 October 2018 using a NIKON D90 camera (lens: SIGMA 18.0–50.0 mm f/2.8).

Amsterdam Centraal is the main railway station in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam. With 151,112 passengers a day (2022), Amsterdam Centraal is the second busiest railway station in the Netherlands after Utrecht Centraal.
As one of the most important long-distance railway stations in the Netherlands, Amsterdam Centraal is a stop on the routes of the high-speed Eurostar, ICE International and Thalys trains. The station connects Amsterdam with major European cities such as Paris, London, Berlin, Cologne, Copenhagen, Munich, Basel and Vienna. It thus links Amsterdam to the European long-distance rail network and has always been the starting and terminus point for passenger trains operated by Deutsche Bahn, the French national railway SNCF and the Belgian NMBS/SNCB. Amsterdam Centraal is also a hub for regional and urban transport. Numerous buses, trams, the city metro and Amsterdam’s ferries stop there.
On my photographic stroll through the city of Amsterdam, I was very impressed by this huge concourse with its numerous railway tracks. Huge, light-flooded windows at a staggering height lend the platform concourse an incredibly fascinating atmosphere of light. The countless steel girders give visitors the feeling of being inside a giant fuselage.
Although the architect Cuypers designed the station, the two large, tube-like platform halls were planned by the railway engineer L.J. Eijmer. The first hall on the city side was completed in 1889, whilst the narrower and longer hall on the IJ side (facing the water) was finished in 1922.

A visit to the Central Station alone – as a bustling shopping centre with shops, cafés and fast-food restaurants, as well as a bicycle storage facility with bike hire – makes it a worthwhile destination in Amsterdam.