Amsterdam Advice Please

[stuartmoss]

Managed to get a bargain day return flight to Schipol from Leeds in June, so am going over to indulge in some planes and trains.

I would like to get a train ticket that allows me to travel around Amsterdam and the locality, possibly including trams also, although am not that fussed over the trams, a bit of loco hauled would also go down well.

Can anyone give me advice as to the ticket I should be after?

Thanks!

 

[EWS 58038]

Managed to get a bargain day return flight to Schipol from Leeds in June, so am going over to indulge in some planes and trains.

I would like to get a train ticket that allows me to travel around Amsterdam and the locality, possibly including trams also, although am not that fussed over the trams, a bit of loco hauled would also go down well.

Can anyone give me advice as to the ticket I should be after?

Thanks!

Forget the loco hauled bit araund Amsterdam. Only the once hourly service to and from Brussels and the FYRA are loco hauled. Between Schiphol and Amsterdam it's doubledecker party witht 6 services per hour (Four modern and two old trains). I said it before, if you have seen one train in Amsterdam you have seen them all.

 

[Greenback]

You might like to consider getting out and about with a day ticket. We did a day's travelling to see a bit of the Netherlands in 2008. It hasn;t got the magnificent scenery of other countries like Switzerland, but there are some pretty little villages. I think we had a loco hauled train from Arnhem to Eindhoven, but I don't know if that was a one off or not!

 

[Old Timer]

Here is the english version of the NS website, which sets out the various tickets types.

Unlike the UK the ticketing is very simplified.

http://www.ns.nl/cs/Satellite/travellers/arrange-buy

I imagine that the Day Travel Card is what you will need. Trams, etc cost an extra EUR5.50

There is a booking office at the lower level in Schiphol, and the staff speak very good English and are always very helpful.

There really is not much loco hauled passenger about now although there are still some workings on the suburban servcies.

I will make some enquiries and find out what loco workings there are and PM you.

With regards to photography there are no problems and no need to obtain permission.

Amsterdam is not good for freight, with only a couple of freights passing through CS. You will need to outside on one of the other routes but really a day is not a lot of time to do both planes and trains. I anticipate you realise that it will take you a good 40 minutes to walk from one end of Schpihol to the other ?

There is a nice cafe/bar directly opposite Amsterdam Central Station called the Grand Cafe Restaurant,. It is the former First Class waiting room. You can sit inside or outside alongside the river. The food is nice and again the staff speak good English.

If you need to change Currency the best place to change your money is at the GWK Bank/Travelex currency exchange located within Central Station.

Finally although the NS used to have a good reputation for efficiency, it is now structured as in the UK (ProRail is the Network Rail equivalent - but easier to work with and more professional) I would leave a good hour minimum from Central Station to Schiphol in case of any points/track circuit failures. Check where you departure will go from, though as the station is under the Plaza and for example the E gates are a long walk !

Unlike the UK Schiphol do the security check at the Gate so you wont get caught out in a long queue in the event of running late. KLM final checkin is 30 mins before departure, and they enforce that absolutely. I imagine it is the same of other airlines.

Have a good trip. The people are nice and pretty much everyone speaks English as a second language.

I hope this has been helpful. If you PM me with some dates, I will see if any of the Dutch guys I know are likely to be travelling around the rail network.

Old Timer

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

If you are after loco hauled services the only ones that I've seen on a regular basis is on the Eindhoven-Venlo route & that's only via the webcam on: http://www.railcam.nl/, so not exactly local to Amsterdam.

 

[EWS 58038]

Come on... Amsterdam Centraal to Schiphol is a 17 minute journey (without stopping at intermediate stations) so one hour is a bit much I think.

If I got the day off I might show you some nice places in the area...
If i'm at work Ill do my upmost to get you back at the airport on time

 

[Old Timer]

Come on... Amsterdam Centraal to Schiphol is a 17 minute journey (without stopping at intermediate stations) so one hour is a bit much I think.

If i'm at work Ill do my upmost to get you back at the airport on time

Yes we know, but you then need to add on time getting through Immigration, then walking to the gate, and getting through security to reach the gate desk. Also remember the poster may not be so familair with AMS plus will almost be certainly going for the last flight of the day.

Personally I would leave CS an hour before gate closure in such circumstances.

 

[Greenback]

Better safe than sorry in the circumstances!

 

[EWS 58038]

Better safe than sorry in the circumstances!

Didn't mentioned the check-in time. Personally I would even allow 90 minutes or so (knowing Schiphol a bit to much)

Can't wait for Amsterdam-Lelystad Airport to accept A320's and 737's.

For Amsterdam make sure you get Mat64 pictures as this will be their last year in service. Class 1600 plus DDM1 (six coach old style doubledecker) will be phased out this summer aswell.

 

[Old Timer]

Didn't mentioned the check-in time. Personally I would even allow 90 minutes or so (knowing Schiphol a bit to much.

Frequent flyer KLM look after their passengers.

I get escorted through the checkin, straight to Immigration

 

[EWS 58038]

Frequent flyer KLM look after their passengers.

I get escorted through the checkin, straight to Immigration [/]

Still... AMS is to big and to expansive if you ask me. Before joining the railways I worked there for 3 years and although I know my way around, even I get fedd up by the time it takes to get from one end of the airport to the other.

But to stay on topic: for freight TT you might have a look at the TDR which can be found at www.rolandrail.net

Operators through Amsterdam are mostly DBSR, Captrain and ACTS.

The TDR is in rail codes so it might look a bit abra-cadabra at first first, but actually its a handy way of keeping things short.

Asd = Amsterdam Centraal
Ass = Amsterdam Sloterdijk
Asdm = Amsterdam Muiderpoort
Awhv = Amsterdam ports

Georgraphically you have the following:
Ass - Awhv - Asd - Asdm

I know a day return from Schiphol airport to Amsterdam standard class is around €7,- and first class is a little under €12 I believe.

Don't be fooled by the TVM which is in most cases (especially at the airport) trying to ripp you off by selling a Fyra suplement as well.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sorry for putting this reply under my posting above (can't croll to edit the message on an iPad)

There is a Amsterdam Visitors ticket available at the Airpirt.
http://www.gvb.nl/english/travellers/tickets-and-fares/Pages/AmsterdamAllin1TravelTicket.aspx

It includes a train return to Amsterdam and 24 hours of unlimited transport.

And as GVB tickets will be accepted in the Amsterdam zone you can travel to any Amsterdam railway station on that one.

 

[stuartmoss]

Thanks everyone above for your advice, will digest what's been said and check out links. I know Schipol reasonably well, been there 4 times over the past 5 years either in transit or visiting the Netherlands.

Flight back is around 9pm I think, although I need to check. My intention is to get to the airport around 3 hours before the flight leaves, so that I can have 60-90 minutes on the Panorama Terrace before going through security to check-in.

As there seems to be little in the way of loco hauled, I might just go to Haarlem and the seaside or something like that and enjoy a few Dutch beers, not bothered about the funny fags though, been there, done that a long time ago!

 

[j0hn0]

I would take time to visit Haarlem (I lived there for a year or so) if you can, I really like the place, hire a bike and cycle to the seaside through Bloemendaal.

Holland in the summer is great

 

[gordonthemoron]

The Amsterdam/Schipol-Hannover/Berlin DB IC trains are loco hauled

 

[EWS 58038]

The Amsterdam/Schipol-Hannover/Berlin DB IC trains are loco hauled

When they run yes....

But there isn't a single location in the Amsterdam area where you can make a decent picture of them, unless you have track acces license.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Thinking about it, DB CNL night trains are also loco hauled, but I suppose the same problem applies

 

[EWS 58038]

They are dragged into the station by a Class 6400/6500 these days and a class 1600 at the other end. This eliminates the run-round of the Locomotive at the Zaanstraat depot.