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Japan Railway & Transport Review 42 • December 200538

Urban and Architectural Revival for PublicTransport Infrastructure in The Netherlands

Corinne Tiry

Two major rail infrastructure projects in theNetherlands are now moving aheadrapidly, changing cityscapes by the end ofthe decade. The first is an extension of theNorth European high-speed link (HSL) railnetwork for major cities within the country,with the southern part of the networkplanned to begin operations in April 2007(Fig. 1 and Table 1). The second, expectedto be in service in 2008, is the RandstadRailtram–train rail network (Fig. 2) in thesouthern part of the Randstad conurbation(metropolitan region of Amsterdam,

Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht). Bothprojects mesh with the Dutch government’senergetic strategy to improve nationalmobility and promote transportation modesother than the automobile. The high urbanconcentration in the centre of the countryis one reason why congestion has graduallygrown to a critical level on trunk roads inthis small area—the Randstad conurbationalone has a population of 7.3 million,representing 46% of the nation’spopulation in just 25% of the total area(Tables 2 and 3).

However, the high population density andclose proximity of cities in the Randstadactually represent an asset for developmentof transit networks, explaining why theMinistry of Transport, Public Works andWater Management has decided to investin an exciting light rail project that cancompete well with the automobile overshort distances of around 10 to 20 km. TheMinistry signed an agreement with the urbanregion of Rotterdam and the Haaglandenconurbation to establish RandstadRaillinking Rotterdam, The Hague andZoetermeer on existing tracks. Trainfrequencies will be increased considerably,and the system will connect directly to TheHague’s tramway network and Rotterdam’ssubway. This tram–train solution will permittravel on different transport modes (train,tram and subway tracks).Several Dutch cities plan to integrate theirurban renewal projects with one or otherof these two future rail networks. In largercities, such as Amsterdam and Rotterdam,the two rail transport projects are the focusof ambitious renewal projects promotingtransportation modes.

Figure 1 HSL–Zuid Route

Source: www.hslzuid.nl

Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Germany

Belgium

Schiphol

Rotterdam

Breda

The Hague

Figure 2 RandstadRail Route

Source: www.randstadrail.nl

The HagueThe HagueThe Hague

Leidschendam-Voorburg

Pijnacker-Nootdorp

Line 3The Hague CS�Rotterdam SlingeLine 6Zoro�Bus

Zoetermeer

Berkelen

Rodenrijs

Bergschenhoek/Bleiswijk

Hillegersberg-Schiebroek

Noord

Rotterdam

Table 1 Journey Times before and after HSL–Zuid

Connection Now HSL�Zuid (2007)

International Amsterdam CS�Paris Amsterdam CS�Brussels Zuid The Hague�Brussels Zuid Breda�Brussels Zuid

4 h 09 min2 h 51 min2 h 17 min1 h 56 min

3 h 04 min1 h 44 min1 h 44 min59 min

Domestic Amsterdam CS�Rotterdam Centraal Amsterdam CS�Breda Amsterdam Zuid/WTC�Rotterdam Centraal Amsterdam Zuid/WTC�Breda

58 min1 h 44 min53 min1 h 42 min

37 min59 min30 min54 min

Source: www.hslzuid.nl (WTC = World Trade Center; CS = Central Station)

Japan Railway & Transport Review 42 • December 2005 39

• In Amsterdam, the rail development islocated outside the old city because ofa strategy to connect Schiphol Airportand develop the Amsterdam–Zuidas(Southern Axis) services district, (seeJRTR 39, pp. 18–25).

• On the other hand, Rotterdam is keento revitalize its central district aroundthe main train station.

• In the case of other smaller but growingcities, such as Arnhem, which is locatedoutside the Randstad conurbation andis just 20 km from the border withGermany, the plan to develop a high-speed connection to Amsterdam andFrankfurt led to a thorough re-examination of Arnhem’s future role asa transport hub.

• The Dutch capital, The Hague, adopteda short-term strategy focused onimproving the quality of its centralpublic spaces by freeing them from thetram network, part of which will bemoved underground. The city’s longer-term strategies call for major high-density changes in the downtown coreand upgrades to the central train stationto permit RandstadRail services.

In all cases, architectural and urbanplanning has been commissioned to teamsof experts skilled in planning innovativeinfrastructure projects, who are bringingnew vision to the design of transportationspace and facil i t ies in the urbanlandscape.

Expanding RotterdamCentraal Station

Located in the nor thern par t o fRotterdam—the port city for the Randstadconurbation—Rotterdam Centraal is themain station and serves as a multi-modal(train, subway, tram and bus) transporthub. To ensure access to the high-speedrail line and RandstadRail, local decisionmakers launched a global restructuringproject for this urban hub with the main

Table 2 Modal Split by Journey Purpose and Urbanization, 1998

Randstad Rest of Netherlands

Transport modeThree large cities

(Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague)

Randstad (total) More urbanized Less urbanized

CarsBicyclesOn footTrainsBuses/Trams/Metros

37.431.28.8

11.014.9

50.624.56.69.17.9

52.732.15.24.52.3

64.922.64.01.91.6

Percentage of commuters

CarsBicyclesOn footTrainsBuses/Trams/Metros

25.626.441.01.5

12.2

35.630.531.01.65.5

40.333.823.60.91.8

52.430.014.70.30.9

Percentage of shoppers

Source: Netherlands National Travel Survey, 1998

Table 3 Daily Travel Distance and Time per Person as Car Driver by TripPurpose and Urbanization in Netherlands, 1998

Randstad Rest of Netherlands

PurposeThree large cities

(Amsterdam,Rotterdam, The Hague)

Randstad (total) More urbanized Less urbanized

Commuting Distance (km) Time (min)

39.653.2

42.053.8

38.748.6

41.449.5

Shopping Distance (km) Time (min)

14.931.5

15.729.3

13.827.2

16.327.4

Source: Netherlands National Travel Survey, 1998

goal of improving modal connectionsthat will continue to grow in number andcomplexity. Rotterdam Centraal firstopened in the 1950s and now servessome 140,000 passengers each day—anumber predicted to rise to 210,000 by2025. Nevertheless, both the physicalboundaries of the project and itsprogramme for the area to be revitalizedlargely exceed those of the transportfacilities and embrace areas around therail right-of-way. Private investors joinedthe project, adding mixed-used activitiesto the transport services. Rotterdam is

the first stop for high-speed trains fromParis and Brussels, and the city and its600,000 inhabitants intend to profit fromtheir location as the southern gateway tot h e N e t h e r l a n d s . T h a n k s t oRandstadRail, the city will soon be just20 minutes from Amsterdam SchipholAirport, and it intends to play up thisadvantage by making its station districtmore attractive by adding a mixture ofservices. However, several obstacles,make it difficult to achieve these twoaims. Since Rotterdam Centraal islocated outside the downtown core and

Japan Railway & Transport Review 45 • August 200640


Bus terminal and main façade of Rotterdam Centrral Station in 2001 (Author)

Artist�s impression of Rotterdam Centraal Station main hall by William Alsop (Alsop Architects)

• To provide comprehensive links for bothsides of the track without changing tracklayout. This strategy is not to reshapethe infrastructure but to boldly urbanizeit, assimilating tracks by creating urbanlinks joining the city centre and suburbsthrough multi-purpose projects that aredirectly integrated with or connected totransport facilities.

• To increase the occupancy density ofthe site, despite the lack of vacant land.In addition to urbanization of the fewpatches of vacant land along thetracks—really the only available emptyspace—on one hand, the projectattempts to increase the layers oftransport facilities, and blend them intothe urban fabric on the other.

Alsop says, ‘The mixed-use developmentwill provide community links by servingthe needs of businesses, residents andcommuters, with an emphasis on theimportance of the quality of the urbanspace. Plans are to integrate the newdevelopment into the city—shops, cafesand public facilities will complementthose that already exist and add a newvalue to city life in Rotterdam. This willprovide a powerful catalyst for furtherregeneration in neighbouring areas andthroughout the city.’Called Mobility Hub, the new projectincludes three access levels (street, platformand overhang) all linked through fourdistinct urban elements (deck, roof, towersand peripheral areas). Continuing the mainnorth–south axis that serves as a topographicreference point, a linear outdoor deckextends across the tracks and ends at abelvedere on the other side. Complete withshops and services, the top level of thispedestrian deck is protected by a roofoverhanging the railway. It is twinned withan intermediate level that provides a link tothe platforms. The suspended upper deckis designed to serve as a mezzanine forvarious activities, opening onto the city andthe passenger area, while the lower level

is a transit station, it suffers from typicalurban problems; the rail right-of-wayisolates one side of the tracks fromdistricts to the north (Proveniersplein),and a branch line has reduced the valueof the urban fabric in the east (Hofplein).The lack of large areas of vacant land alsorestricts planning of major urban

revitalization projects. At present, onlya few neglected trackside strips of landoffer some construction opportunities.An international competition launched bythe city in 2001 resulted in the selectionof a master plan by the British architectWilliam Alsop. The plan offers twosolutions:

Japan Railway & Transport Review 45 • August 2006 41

provides seamless pedestrian access underthe platforms. A number of office towersmark the gateway to the southerntransportation node, standing as a landmarkindicating the new central location of thestation. The buildings are bulbous shapedso that they occupy as little land as possible,with the lower floors being used mainly togive vertical access to higher floors. Theupper floors overhang the wholetransportation infrastructure that is publicproperty (the station plaza, including a roadhaulage depot and tramway terminal). Apartial overhang over a curve in the track tothe east permits construction of a new accessroad leading directly to the transport nodeand peripheral areas where mixeddevelopment projects provide housing,business and office facilities (Table 4).

Preparing Arnhem Centraal forHeavy Use

Arnhem Centraal Station is now enteringits final restructuring phase, getting readyfor the soon-to-be-operational HSL–Zuid.In 2008, even before direct links toAmsterdam and Frankfurt (HSL-Oost) arein service, central Arnhem will be nomore than 40 minutes from Schiphol, thenational airport. This will give Arnhem—a city of slightly over 140,000—theopportunity to take advantage of its

Table 4 Station and Station Area Average Building Programmes

Arnhem Centraal(1996�2007)

The Hague Niew Centraal(2003�2009)

Rotterdam Centraal(2001�2009�2018)

Site areaProgramme (total)Transfer hallTrolley-bus zoneBus deckParking

Shops and facilitiesOffice spaceHousingHotel

40,000150,00014,0006,0008,000

44,000 (1,000 cars, 5,000 bicycles)

8,00055,00015,000

-

-221,000

----

12,000128,50059,00021,500

200,000641,000

---

6,500 cars

121,000318,000195,000

7,000

Source: Arnhem�www.unstudio.com; Rotterdam�www.alsoparchitects.com; The Hague�www.denhaag.nl

Units: m2 unless indicated

Artist�s impression of Rotterdam Centraal Station main platforms by William Alsop (Alsop Architects)

Rotterdam Centraal Station master plan by William Alsop (Alsop Architects)



Construction site of Arnhem Centraal Station: the office tower by Ben van Berkel (Author)

Artist�s impression of Arnhem Centraal Station transfer hall by Ben van Berkel (UN Studio)

location between two of Europe’s busiestairports. When the station restructuringproject started about 10 years ago, sometraffic surveys indicated that 75% of the65,000 daily journeys through the stationinvolved changes between transportationmode, either public (train, bus or tram)or private (car, taxi or bicycle). First seenas a source of problems because of itsinadequate structure, once given anoptimum layout, its mission as a transporthub offers great potential for mobility.Built in 1954, the station was no longersuitable for its purposes. Plans call fordoubling its capacity (to 110,000journeys per day) to meet future needs.The Arnhem municipal governmenthopes to take advantage of the projectb y r e v i t a l i z i n g t h e s t a t i o nneighbourhood. As in Rotterdam,architects were asked to develop a masterplan for an area expanding far beyondthe station and its role as a simpletransport node. Lead by Ben van Berkel,architects at the Dutch architecture officeUN Studio spent 2 years developing anarchitectural and urban system toovercome the complexity of the site andpossible future restrictions. Ben vanBerkel defines their ‘one terminalconcept’ as follows: ‘By combining thenumber of users with the transfermovements, the connections betweenthe different systems are placed in ahierarchical order. To optimize thenetwork in the places with the greatestnumber of transfer movements, thedistances are kept as short as possible.’The result is a building designed with


distinct thematic floors that minimizemovement from one to another. Thereare three parking levels undergroundbeneath an intermodal deck (buses andthe tramway are located together atground level), and the superstructure willeventually be topped by a three-storeypedestal for an attractive trio of officetowers (Table 4). The two, long V-shapedslits accentuating this concrete laminatedstructure along the east–west tracks bringnatural light into the furthest reaches ofthe parking levels, providing direct verticalintegration with the bus and trampla t fo rms . Cons t ruc t ion o f theWillemstunnel allows road traffic to passunder the station, giving motorists directaccess to the underground parking levels.The risk of monotony inherent in such aconcrete laminated structure is avoidedthanks to an admirable architecture designbased on movement from one level toanother. The architect explains hisconcept as, ‘Movement studies are thecornerstone of the proposal: the analysis

of the types of movement on locationincludes the directions of the varioustrajectories, their prominence in relationto other forms of transportation on the site,duration, links to different programmesand interconnections. A kind of landscapehas resulted from the organization of thearea. The cuts into the landscapedetermine the routes of the traffic flows.Pedestrian movements, transport systems,light, construction and the distribution ofthe programme are fused into onecontinuous landscape.’

The Hague�s Underground�A Linear Station

The Underground project opened inOctober 2004 after about a decade ofplanning and construction. Located inthe heart of the business district, itprovides an underground link for twotramway stations (Grote Markt and Spui)where three lines cross, as well as parkingfor 500 automobiles. The decision to put

the tram underground for 1.3 km in thedowntown area was part of a globalstrategy to rationalize personal andpublic transportation systems in thecapital. It was an essential strategy forsuch a project intended to modernize thecityscape. The location of this city ofnearly 500,000 people, hedged betweenthe sea to the west and an expressway tothe east, greatly reduces its ability toexpand lateral ly. Therefore, themunicipal government focused on a planto increase density in the downtown area.This plan proposes additional projectscovering 500,000 m2 of land, all to becompleted by 2020, including upgradesto the central station. Comprehensivetraffic flow management is required toprevent congestion that could otherwisearise from the increased density and thefuture RandstadRail service. To this end,a loop road punctuated by parking areaswill encircle the downtown area, turningit into an island-like district with an areaof about 100 ha, open only to local

Den Haag Station platform and its exhibition wall by OMA (Author)V-shaped slits accentuating concrete laminatedstructure at Arnhem Centraal Station (Author)



Den Haag Station platform and elevated car parking ramp by OMA (Author)

traffic. Also, a project to completelyrevitalize the central station for TheHague is on track. In 2003, architects atBenthem Crouwel proposed an entirely

transparent volume through which thefuture RandstadRail will pass (Table 4).At present, this first attempt to increasetraffic fluidity on the city’s most important

commercial street, with its many largestores, while at the same time offeringtransport services and busy parking areas,seems to be a success thanks to its use ofthe Underground architectural device.The design of this space was assigned tothe Dutch architecture office OMA underthe direction of Rem Koolhaas whodescribes the Underground principles as,‘A totally underground—invisible—system of federated parking garages,subway stations, sunken roads, etc., thatwould mine the entire centre, invade,connect, and consolidate existing garages.The tunnel acts like a spine connectingthe separate organs, creating a body ofunderground connections serving the cityfrom underneath.’In addition, the problem generated by theuneasy coexistence of tram platforms andparking areas inside the long trafficcorridor is solved by an innovativeinterplay of transparencies—a road runssuspended inside a transparent structureover the tracks from one end of theUnderground to the other, offering lateralaccess to the different parking spaces.Motion is apparent because of thetransparency, so the usual uneasiness feltin underground spaces can be avoided.

Intermodality and Urban Living

Will these two future transportationnetworks and their revitalized stationsreduce automobile traffic in the heart ofthe Netherlands? At the least, we can saythat the dynamics working toward thismajor goal, which was set out in the fourthreport on land development definingdirections for 2015, are in place so far. Inthe Netherlands, these developmentprojects represent advanced technicalexploits, and improvements to publictransportation create a revival inarchitectural and urban expression. Atany rate, all projects share the commongoal of intermodality, a goal that is

Den Haag Station open corridor by OMA (Author)


Corinne Tiry

Ms Tiry is a French architect-researcher. After attending Kyoto University on a scholarship from the

Japanese Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, she worked as a freelance researcher in Tokyo

and Hong Kong thanks to French AFAA grants. She specializes in architecture and urban issues related

to transportation changes in metropolitan areas. She has written several articles for specialist magazines

(including JRTR 13, 20, 28, and 35), and is the author of Learning from Three Tokyo Stations, 1997–

2000 (CD-ROM format). She now teaches at the Paris-Belleville National School of Architecture and is

a member of the research laboratory LACTH at Lille National School of Architecture and Landscape.

essential to getting people out of their carsand onto public transport. Attractive,easy-to-access and user-friendly transportinfrastructure will soon become reality formore passengers. When completed, itseffect will also be measured on the basisof its ability to link different elements ofthe urban fabric, such as apartments,centrally located businesses and facilities,offices, etc.But the complexity and scope of thesepro jec t s could make success fu lcompletion difficult. An example is theRotterdam project, which the newmunicipal government cancelled in 2002because it was considered too grandiose.The project was recently launched on areduced scale and now encompasses onlya single intermodal terminal.Projects that closely relate architectureand urban reconfiguration seem to requirean average of 10 years to complete. Asshown by the above three examples, amajor transportation facility can no longerbe regarded as a single monumentalbuilding but should now be seen as anintegral part of the city in its entirety. Assuch, it can be completed only over thelong term. ■

Den Haag Station platform seen from mezzanine entrance by OMA (Author)

Den Haag Station platform seen from cross-pedestrian bridge by OMA (Author)

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