Amsterdam Metro

Trains run under the city.

They help people move fast. The first line opened in 1977. It went to the southeast part of the city.

Now there are five lines. There are 39 stations in total.

Some lines go deep under the ground. One line goes from the north to the south.

Building the tracks was hard work. Workers had to dig through the soil. Sometimes they had to move buildings. This made some people very upset.

One line is very special. It does not go through the center. It connects the west to the south. This helps people avoid the busy middle.

The newest line opened in 2018. It is a great way to travel. Do you like riding on big trains?

The Amsterdam Metro is a fast train system. It helps people travel around the city and nearby towns.

The first line opened in October 1977. It was called the Oostlijn, or East Line. It connected the city center to the Bijlmermeer area. Building the tracks was not easy. Workers had to dig through the soil. Sometimes they had to remove buildings to make room. This caused many protests in the city.

Today, the system has five lines and 39 stations.

Three lines start at Centraal Station. One line, Route 50, is different. It is a Ring Line. This means it goes around the city. It does not go through the busy center.

The newest part is the North–South Line. It opened in July 2018. It connects the north and south parts of the city. Most of this line runs in deep tunnels under the ground.

Some stations have a special look. They use a style called Brutalism. This style uses a lot of plain concrete. The designers also used bright colors. For example, they used red for the train doors.

The Amsterdam Metro is a fast train system for the Netherlands. It helps people move through the city and nearby areas like Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. The city of Amsterdam owns the whole network. A company called GVB runs the metro trains every day. They also run the city's buses, trams, and ferries. The metro works alongside other trains to move many people. It is a very important part of how the city stays connected.

Building these tracks was a big job that happened in many steps. For the first line, workers used a method called caissons. They built large structures on site and lowered them into place. To do this, they had to blast away the soil underneath. This was hard because it meant some buildings had to be torn down. This caused many people to protest in the streets. Later, workers used a different way called cut-and-cover in the Wibautstraat area.

People have been planning an underground railway for a long time. The first ideas started way back in the 1920s. Leaders like Zeeger Gulden and Emanuel Boekman asked to study the idea in 1922. The plans stopped for many years because they cost too much. In the 1950s, people talked about it again because there was too much traffic. A group led by J.W. Clerx looked for solutions in 1956. Finally, the city council agreed to build the network in May 1968.

The metro has grown through many different stages of history. The first line, the Oostlijn, opened on 14 October 1977. It ran from Weesperplein to the Bijlmermeer area. In 1990, the Amstelveen Line opened as Route 51. This was a hybrid line that used both metro and tram power. The Ring Line, or Route 50, was added in 1997. It helps people travel without going through the busy city center. The newest part is the North–South Line, which opened in July 2018.

Today, the system has five lines and 39 stations. The total length of the tracks is 42.9 kilometers. Some lines, like Route 53 and 54, start at Centraal Station. The newest line, Route 52, runs from Amsterdam-Noord to Amsterdam-Zuid. Some stations have a special look called Brutalism. This style uses lots of bare concrete and big halls. Architects Ben Spängberg and Sier van Rhijn designed many of the first stations. They even used bright red colors for the train doors.

The Amsterdam Metro is a rapid transit system serving the city of Amsterdam and its neighboring areas. It reaches into the municipalities of Diemen and Ouder-Amstel. The City of Amsterdam owns the entire network. A municipal company called GVB operates the metro. GVB also manages the city's buses, trams, and ferries. The metro works alongside the regional and intercity trains run by Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS). This rail-based network is essential for moving people through the busy urban environment.

Building the metro required complex engineering and difficult construction methods. Because of Amsterdam's unique geography, tunneling was a major challenge. Most sections were built using caissons. Workers built these large structures on-site. They then lowered them into place by blasting away the soil underneath. This method was controversial because it required the demolition of existing buildings. In the Wibautstraat area, engineers used the cut-and-cover method instead. The construction in the Nieuwmarkt neighborhood led to fierce public opposition. This tension even resulted in the Nieuwmarkt riots in 1975.

Planning for an underground railway began much earlier than the actual construction. In November 1922, municipal council members Zeeger Gulden and Emanuel Boekman requested a study. They asked the alderman Ter Haar to investigate an underground railway. The Public Works department drafted proposals in 1923 and 1929. However, these early plans stalled because they were considered too expensive. The discussion resurfaced in the 1950s due to a post-war population boom. Increased motorized traffic made underground rail seem like a realistic solution. In 1956, a commission led by J.W. Clerx was installed to explore traffic solutions.

In April 1963, the city established the Bureau Stadsspoorweg. This group studied the technical feasibility of a metropolitan railway. They proposed route networks and the order of construction. They also studied adverse effects like traffic disruption and building demolition. In March 1968, the municipal government submitted a formal proposal to the council. The council approved the plan on 16 May 1968. The vote was 38 in favor and only 3 against. The original plan included four lines intended to replace many existing tram lines.

The metro system has grown through several distinct stages of development. The first phase was the Oostlijn, or East Line, which opened on 14 October 1977. It connected the city center to the Bijlmermeer area. In 1990, the Amstelveen Line opened as Route 51. This was a hybrid system known as an sneltram. It used third rail power in the north and overhead wires in the south. In 1997, the Ring Line, or Route 50, was added. This line connects the southern and western districts without passing through the center. The newest addition is the North-South Line, or Route 52, which opened in July 2018.

The current network is quite large and complex. It consists of five lines and 39 stations. The total length of the network is 42.9 kilometers. Three lines—51, 53, and 54—originate at Centraal Station. Line 50 is unique because it is the only route that bypasses the city center. Line 52 runs from Amsterdam-Noord to Amsterdam-Zuid via Centraal. This new line was constructed mostly underground using deep-bored tunnels. In 2019, the sneltram operations for Line 51 ended. The southern segment was replaced by the Amsteltram, a dedicated tram service.

The architecture of the metro is also very distinctive. The East Line stations were designed by Ben Spängberg and Sier van Rhijn. They used a style known as Brutalism. This style features large-scale use of bare concrete and massive underground halls. The designers also used sophisticated color schemes. For example, they used red for train doors, bins, and platform signage. One notable structure is a dual metro overpass in the Bijlmermeer district. It features two crossovers supported by 33 pillars each. This height was necessary to cross the raised embankments of the local streets.