Amsterdam local trams, and train to Utrecht

[Ladder23]

Hi all,

Me and my mother are going to see Amsterdam, and will be visiting friends in Utrecht whilst we are there. I wanted to go with a slight heads up about the tram systems, and the trains from Amsterdam to Utrecht, so I can be a little prepared. As I have never been and have no one to ask in person about there experiences with both

Any info little or small would be great.

Thank you

 

[cool110]

Fares wise everything has become much easier with contactless being accepted everywhere, if your mother is over 65 she'll need to register her card in the OVpay app to activate the 34% senior discount.

 

[Ladder23]

Fares wise everything has become much easier with contactless being accepted everywhere, if your mother is over 65 she'll need to register her card in the OVpay app to activate the 34% senior discount.

She isn't, but thanks for the advice it's appreciated you thought to mention!

 

[mad_rich]

Contactless works pretty much everywhere - local and national. If you're used to London, remember that you need to touch on and off the buses and trams!

Avoid the few ICE or ICD trains to Utrecht - you need a supplement for those.

 

[dutchflyer]

1.Utrecht also has a tramline, toward the UNI-centre (where I studied when it was just started construction-some 50 yrs ago)
2.Senior discount as such ONLY applies to bustrammetro, NOT for trains. IF you plan to use those in the AMS area a lot more, one of the various passes-some also include the airport, may be better value. There as a very recent post about that (for staying in Sloterdijk)
3.it still seems anyone believes one has to go via AMS-central=big nonsense. Coming back from Utr there are effectively 2 different lines, side by side till where AMS starts: besides via Central onward also via Zuid toward Airport, ZUid is also connectd to the AMS metro-as is Bijlmer, in outer south AMS close by to the football stadium, where these trains stop before

 

[DanielB]

if your mother is over 65 she'll need to register her card in the OVpay app to activate the 34% senior discount.

Just to make it clear: that discount is only applicable for bus, tram and metro travel, not for trains.

Avoid the few ICE or ICD trains to Utrecht - you need a supplement for those.

The ICD is easy to avoid towards Utrecht, as there are no ICD services there.

I wanted to go with a slight heads up about the tram systems, and the trains from Amsterdam to Utrecht, so I can be a little prepared.Tr

Getting a train from Amsterdam to Utrecht is really easy, as IC services from Amsterdam Central (or Amstel) to Utrecht Central run every 10 minutes from Monday till Thursday and every 15 minutes from Friday till Sunday. Besides that, another option is the train from Amsterdam South or Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA to Utrecht which runs every 15 minutes (with a few additional trains at peak hours).
Just be aware those trains have various destinations, IC-trains to Nijmegen, Venlo, Heerlen, Maastricht or Eindhoven all go towards Utrecht from Amsterdam. You should especially pay attention on the way back as from Utrecht there are trains towards Rotterdam that run via Amsterdam, but also a lot which take the direct route. (Although the platform used will already tell you which train is the right one: trains to Amsterdam in general leave from platform 5 or 7 in Utrecht; occasionally during engineering works 14 or 15 is also possible)

I don't now that much about the Amsterdam tram system, but the Utrecht one is fairly straight forward as it has only three routes: route 20 and 21 form the core service (both every 20 minutes) from Nieuwegein and IJsselstein through the southern part of Utrecht to Centraal Station Jaarbeurszijde, followed by a sort of rollercoaster (a winding tram track over a viaduct and then through a tunnel) to Centraal Station Centrumzijde. The latter is the terminus in the late evening and on weekends, during weekdays trams continue towards the Utrecht Science Park. Between Centraal Station Centrumzijde and Utrecht Science Park route 22 increases the frequency to 9 trams an hour (12 in the morning peak)

For Utrecht city, a day ticket is available for € 6,95 which is a bargain should you make more than one return trip: https://www.u-ov.info/abonnementen-kaartjes/product-details/UFJPRFVDVF9UWVBFOjEyNQ/dagkaart-1-dag
For the trains between Amsterdam and Utrecht: using a contactless card you'll pay full fare (same fare as with an OV-chipcard). When booking in advance (at least one day) you might find a PrijsTijd Deal in the NS journey planner offering 20-60% discount, but e-tickets cannot be exchanged and you are required to travel within the specified timeslot.

 

[StephenHunter]

There is a railway museum in Utrecht well worth visiting.

 

[Ladder23]

Just to make it clear: that discount is only applicable for bus, tram and metro travel, not for trains.


The ICD is easy to avoid towards Utrecht, as there are no ICD services there.


Getting a train from Amsterdam to Utrecht is really easy, as IC services from Amsterdam Central (or Amstel) to Utrecht Central run every 10 minutes from Monday till Thursday and every 15 minutes from Friday till Sunday. Besides that, another option is the train from Amsterdam South or Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA to Utrecht which runs every 15 minutes (with a few additional trains at peak hours).
Just be aware those trains have various destinations, IC-trains to Nijmegen, Venlo, Heerlen, Maastricht or Eindhoven all go towards Utrecht from Amsterdam. You should especially pay attention on the way back as from Utrecht there are trains towards Rotterdam that run via Amsterdam, but also a lot which take the direct route. (Although the platform used will already tell you which train is the right one: trains to Amsterdam in general leave from platform 5 or 7 in Utrecht; occasionally during engineering works 14 or 15 is also possible)

I don't now that much about the Amsterdam tram system, but the Utrecht one is fairly straight forward as it has only three routes: route 20 and 21 form the core service (both every 20 minutes) from Nieuwegein and IJsselstein through the southern part of Utrecht to Centraal Station Jaarbeurszijde, followed by a sort of rollercoaster (a winding tram track over a viaduct and then through a tunnel) to Centraal Station Centrumzijde. The latter is the terminus in the late evening and on weekends, during weekdays trams continue towards the Utrecht Science Park. Between Centraal Station Centrumzijde and Utrecht Science Park route 22 increases the frequency to 9 trams an hour (12 in the morning peak)

For Utrecht city, a day ticket is available for € 6,95 which is a bargain should you make more than one return trip: https://www.u-ov.info/abonnementen-kaartjes/product-details/UFJPRFVDVF9UWVBFOjEyNQ/dagkaart-1-dag
For the trains between Amsterdam and Utrecht: using a contactless card you'll pay full fare (same fare as with an OV-chipcard). When booking in advance (at least one day) you might find a PrijsTijd Deal in the NS journey planner offering 20-60% discount, but e-tickets cannot be exchanged and you are required to travel within the specified timeslot.

Great info thanks for this

There is a railway museum in Utrecht well worth visiting.

Will most likely search for this then!

 

[hypo199]

For A'dam trams download the GVB app - it's also pretty good for providing onward rail and bus connections between locations in the Randstad area.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

There is a railway museum in Utrecht well worth visiting.

Agree. My not very trainy partner and I went there at 10:00 expecting to leave around 13:00. We left at 17:00.

 

[Amalie]

If you choose to visit the railway museum (which I would also recommend,) I’d recommend taking the dedicated train to the museum itself (Listed as Utrecht Maliebaan on station signs/journey planners). The train itself isn’t particularly interesting, just a typical modern EMU. But it takes a rather interesting route where it will stop in the middle of an active railway to reverse. Lacking any platforms, the train driver will then actually walk trough the whole train to get to the other end.

 

[miklcct]

I booked a holiday and visited the mentioned places above last year, using only a contactless card to pay for all fares.

The rail system is the best among those I have used in Europe. I never used a timetable apart from the museum service. Every route is turn up and go and there aren't even any seat reservations on domestic trains including the intercity trains.

One thing to look out. You must use the correct gate for the operator you are going to use at shared stations. The system knows at real time if you tapped in or not for contactless cards. The gate won't open for exit if you don't have a matching tap in.

 

[DanielB]

The train itself isn’t particularly interesting, just a typical modern EMU.

There have been a few days with an historic EMU recently, usually when certain events take place in the museum.
When that is the case it's often announced in advance on sites like treinposities.nl

But it takes a rather interesting route where it will stop in the middle of an active railway to reverse. Lacking any platforms, the train driver will then actually walk trough the whole train to get to the other end.

There is a small piece of platform, but only long enough for the driver to change trainset should a coupled set be running.
(And the piece of track it reverses on, between Blauwkapel Junction East and West, is actually not used for by other trains in normal circumstances)

One thing to look out. You must use the correct gate for the operator you are going to use at shared stations. The system knows at real time if you tapped in or not for contactless cards. The gate won't open for exit if you don't have a matching tap in.

This only works at shared stations however. Should you have tapped in at Arriva at a shared station for example and then tap out at NS on an NS-only station it will be expensive as you'll not yet your deposit back from Arriva (costing you €20) and in case of a gate* you'll also pay €20 to NS for a tap out without corresponding tap in.

The former can be corrected via uitcheckgemist.nl (for an OV chipcard) or OVpay.nl for contactless, but the latter requires a call to NS customer service AFAIK.

*) gates can only tap you out on the inside or in on the outside of the station. In case of a card reader at a non-gated station you'll tap in again in this situation, which is easily corrected by tapping out at another card reader. (Or the same one, but then you'll have to wait one minute before it allows you to do so).

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Don't know if its still at the Rail museum but there was a rather decorative NS Class 08 there!

EMU Shuttle is worth it, great on a quiet day too as it was just me and a friend on, the guard let us in the rear cab for the journey