Den Haag Centraal - Amsterdam Centraal

[Deroro]

Tomorrow, 20 June, two of us wish to travel from Den Haag Centraal to Amsterdam Centraal. We are going to the exhibition at the Van Gogh museum. According to the NS journey planner, there are no longer any direct trains after 09:49 which is too early for us. Looking at future dates, this change appears to be permanent.

We are old people with mobility issues and prefer not to change trains. There are direct trains from Laan van NOI, although this is less convenient. Offhand, this scarcity of direct trains from the seat of government to the capital city seems surprising. Could any of the Dutch contributors advise the reason for it. Thanks in advance.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's a 2tph IC service (xx03/33) between Den Haag Centraal and Amsterdam Zuid (goes on to Zwolle/Leeuwarden).
Tram 5 from Zuid station will take you to Museumplein.
It's 6 stops on the tram compared to 8 stops from Centraal on line 2.

 

[Deroro]

There's a 2tph IC service (xx03/33) between Den Haag Centraal and Amsterdam Zuid (goes on to Zwolle/Leeuwarden).
Tram 5 from Zuid station will take you to Museumplein.
It's 6 stops on the tram compared to 8 stops from Centraal on line 2.

That's great information. Thank you so much.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I too was surprised at this, does anyone know why? Is it to do with the works on Centraal?

 

[DanielB]

Due to staff shortage, NS is running a reduced timetable. On most lines off peak only the core half-hourly services are running, with trains every 15 minutes only on the busiest routes.

There are still direct trains to Amsterdam Central every 30 minutes from The Hague HS, which is the main station on the through line (and also close to the city centre)

The Hague has a somewhat atypical situation with the central station braching off from the mainline (a relict of the past with multiple companies), resulting in more trains to Amsterdam from the Hollands Spoor station (2 tph towards Central via Haarlem, 2 tph to Zuid via Schiphol).

 

[Deroro]

Due to staff shortage, NS is running a reduced timetable. On most lines off peak only the core half-hourly services are running, with trains every 15 minutes only on the busiest routes.

There are still direct trains to Amsterdam Central every 30 minutes from The Hague HS, which is the main station on the through line (and also close to the city centre)

The Hague has a somewhat atypical situation with the central station braching off from the mainline (a relict of the past with multiple companies), resulting in more trains to Amsterdam from the Hollands Spoor station (2 tph towards Central via Haarlem, 2 tph to Zuid via Schiphol).

Thank you for clarifying the situation. We prefer to travel from Den Haag Centraal as it is the train's origin station and we are guaranteed two seats together. We arrive early, get a cappuccino, board the train and relax while drinking our coffee. As we only travel to Amsterdam to visit the museums, I now realise that going to Zuid is handier for us than Amsterdam Centraal.

 

[dastocks]

If you really needed Amsterdam CS I imagine it would be a simple (cross-platform?) change at Leiden, which is a large station with plenty to do (grab more coffee etc.) while you wait for the connection. Leiden is a place worth visiting in its own right.

 

[dutchflyer]

Whilst now sitting in a NS-sprinter (=all stops) train FROM Den Haag C; this Leiden connection is the tipical cross-platform-do in 2 mins one and works not perfect but quite good-less so in other direction (end of longer trip-more chance on delays).
There should be an half-hourly SPR train den Haag C-Leiden-Schiphol-AMsterdam C (and on to Almere-Lelystad), which will not come up in planners as it wil take much longer. It really needs near mind-boggling reasoning to convince people that its not needed at all-and in fact often even less direct, to go via AMS Central.

 

[Bemined]

That sprinter service only runs in the evening and weekends, during the day the sprinters from The Hague run towards Haarlem and Hoorn instead, the latter going via Amsterdam Sloterdijk bypassing both Zuid and Centraal.

 

[DanielB]

We prefer to travel from Den Haag Centraal as it is the train's origin station and we are guaranteed two seats together. We arrive early, get a cappuccino, board the train and relax while drinking our coffee. As we only travel to Amsterdam to visit the museums, I now realise that going to Zuid is handier for us than Amsterdam Centraal.

Arriving too early is not a great idea at The Hague Central as there are very little places to sit down while waiting for your train. Though the Intercity towards Amsterdam Zuid seems to have a long turnaround currently, so it will be along the platform long before departure. Walking towards the front of the train is always advisable at The Hague Central as trains tend to be much quieter there, though watch the departure boards as expecially during off-peak hours it might happen that a long train has arrived and some trainsets are shunted away to the sidings during reversal.
Train compositions and coupling/uncoupling will be displayed at the departure boards, uncoupled sets not intended for passengers are shown with a red/white shading (like this).

At Amsterdam Zuid you'll not find the tram immediately outside the station, but a short walk is required. Take the exit "Zuidplein" and walk along the square till you reach a viaduct. The tram stops are located on this viaduct, lifts are available to the tram/bus stops. The tram towards the city centre departs from the stop at the side of the train station.

 

[philg999]

I do this journey frequently. You almost always have to change at Leiden. The Amsterdam centraal train will be waiting on the other side of the island platform your train arrives at, and is pretty much a guaranteed connection that leaves a few minutes later than yours arrives at. Most trains to/from Amsterdam centraal go to/from Den Haag Laan van NOI and Den Haag HS. If you really want a direct intercity train then catch it from one of those instead.

 

[Struner]

You’ll have booked a ticket for the museum which gives you a starting time for your visit?
Enjoy the museum!