Amsterdam maps

The Metro/Sneltram

Amsterdam also operates a heavy rail Metro system. Four services are operated, three which terminate at Centraal Station (identified as lines 51, 53, and 54) and one "crosstown" service (line 50) from the southeast suburbs to the northwest. The number 51 shares a segment of right-of-way with the number 5 tram line, using the same tracks and overhead wire. The platforms at these joint stations are high-level for the Metro and low-level for the tram. This joint operation is termed in Dutch a "Sneltram" ("light rail") as opposed to a pure metro. All other Metro stations feature high-level platforms only. For the most part, the lines operate on third rail, but the number 51 operates on catenary wire for a portion of its trip, with the changeover occuring at Zuid/WTC station. In addition to the electrical supply changeover, there are door sills which extend from the Sneltram cars to account for the wider loading gauge of the metro platforms.

The underground portions of the Metro/Sneltram system are built in what I thought of as Clockwork Orange concrete construction (if you haven't seen the movie, it takes place in and around a very sterile, concrete 1960's-era urban housing bloc): very boxy concrete stations, similar to those in Munich, Prague, Milan, and Vienna. (No similarity to older metro systems like those of Paris, London, and Madrid.) The stations have large concrete mezzanine areas with some retail establishments, but did not share many similarities in appearance with New York's IND stations with large mezzanine areas. These concrete stations are scheduled for large-scale renovations in the coming years.

A nice touch at the Centraal Station metro station were little "viewfinder" installations along the mezzanine walls, each of which had a backlit photograph of a metro around the world, including New York, Philadelphia, Paris, London, Moscow, etc.

The lines were opened beginning in 1977, with Weesperplein being the northern terminus until 1980. The first two segments in operation are part of the 53 and 54 lines, Weesperplein-Gaasperplein and Weesperplein-Holendrecht. Service on line 51 to Amstelveen and Poortwachter began in 1990, and an extension to Westwijk is planned to open in 2004. "Ringlijn" 50 began service in 1994 between Isolatorweg and Gein, sharing tracks with line 51 and line 54 along the way.

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