Leiden Centraal is the main railway station in Leiden, a university city in the Netherlands. In 2019, it was the nation's sixth-most important station in terms of travel numbers, with 82.689 daily passengers. [1] The station is an important transit hub for the c. 35,000 non-resident higher education students studying in the city, [2] as well as for Leiden's surrounding area, including the seaside town of Katwijk.
Leiden Station opened on 17 August 1842 as the southern terminus of the first expansion of the Old Line (Dutch: Oude Lijn) from Haarlem, operated by the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij (HIJSM). Because there was some delay in extending the line from the railroad bridge over the towing canal to Haarlem, a makeshift structure was constructed on the east side of the railroad bridge, which was the departure point for the first train from Leiden to Amsterdam.
A permanent building could be opened on 15 June 1843. This station was a modest, single-story affair and had been designed by railway engineers Frederik Willem Conrad and Cornelis Outshoorn , who were also responsible for Haarlem's first station. [3] It consisted of a small hall and two wings, which housed offices and services. At the time, the station site was part of the neighboring village of Oegstgeest rather than Leiden itself.
Like most of its generation, this original station soon proved to be far too small to cope with the growth of the railways. Its replacement, finished in 1879, came to serve not only the HIJSM line from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, but also the recently completed connection to Woerden, for which Leiden became the western terminus; for this reason it was officially referred to as a "shared station" (gemeenschappelijk station). [4] The line to Woerden was operated by the competing Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij and allowed passengers to travel directly to Utrecht.
A basic design was produced by Dirk Margadant , which was then completed by Theodor Sanders . [5] This station took inspiration from Berlin's Lehrter Bahnhof, with which it shared a triumphal arch flanked by double columns in the façade. [6] Margadant would return to this idea in a more stylized form in his later design for the (still extant) railway station in Haarlem (1908).
While the new station's design was generally well-regarded, the ground-level crossings of the busy railway line caused increasing traffic and safety problems as the years went by. [7] Moreover, goods facilities were located at the front of the station and further limited space and access. This situation was made worse after the Blauwe Tram ("blue tram") linking Leiden to Scheveningen was connected to the station in 1924.
These traffic issues led to the decision to elevate the railway lines, which necessitated reconstructing the station. An entirely new station building was opened in August 1953. [8] This station was designed by Herman Schelling , who had gained some renown as the architect of Amsterdam's Muiderpoort station. Stylistically, it matched his other post-war designs such as those in Enschede and Hengelo. Schelling's design was not received favorably, also because its rather austere style contrasted markedly with the opulent forms of its predecessor and was regarded as unbefitting Leiden's status as the predominant university city in the country. [9] In addition, increasing numbers of passengers soon caused the building to become overcrowded.
The fourth, and current, station was designed by Harry Reijnders and completed in May 1996. Consisting of a white lattice structure, a curved, shell-like entrance leads into a ticketing hall lined with shops and restaurants. Initially, the floor had a bright blue and white finish. Problems with passengers slipping required that the floor be replaced with standard tiling. On 22 May 1997, Leiden Station was renamed Leiden Centraal (Leiden Central) in recognition of the station's significance as the nation's fifth busiest.
In 2007, Leiden Centraal was renovated in accordance with the introduction of the OV-chipkaart, which created a nationwide smart card fare system. To implement the OV-chipkaart, ticket barriers were installed, separating the station into a paid and unpaid area. This caused some controversy because the building was also a popular and convenient walking route to the area at the station's rear, which contains the Leiden University Medical Center. [10] The platforms, waiting area, and several shops comprise the paid area, while the rest of the station (including ticket machines and other shops) is classified as unpaid. As of 2017 the barriers are no longer open, as the new ticket system is now mandatory.
In 1910, Sigmund Freud, the father of Psychoanalysis, and conductor and composer Gustav Mahler met at Leiden station. [11] It was also the site where the Leiden physicist Paul Ehrenfest picked up various friends and colleagues such as Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and J. Robert Oppenheimer. [12]
As of 13 December 2020 [update] , the following train services call at this station:
For the bus services the responsible companies are Arriva and Veolia Transport.
| No. | Route | Via | |
|---|---|---|---|
| City service Leiden | |||
| 1 | Station De Vink - Leiderdorp, Rijnland Ziekenhuis | Stevenshof, Centraal Station, Station Lammenschans, Leiderdorp | |
| 2 | Station De Vink - Leiderdorp, Oranjewijk | Stevenshof, Centraal Station, Breestraat, Station Lammenschans, Leiderdorp, Rijnland Ziekenhuis | |
| 3 | Station De Vink - Leiden, Merenwijk | Fortuinwijk, Station Lammenschans, Breestraat, Centraal Station, LUMC, Groenoord | |
| 4 | Leiden, Zuidwest - Leiden, Merenwijk | Fortuinwijk, Breestraat, Centraal Station, LUMC, Groenoord | |
| 5 | Voorschoten, Starrenburg - Leiderdorp, Leyhof | Station Voorschoten, Vlietwijk, Noord-Hofland, Haagweg-Noord, Centraal Station, Binnenstad, De Waard, De Kooi, Rietschans, Buitenhof | |
| 6 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Leiderdorp, Leyhof | Binnenstad, De Waard, De Kooi, Rietschans, Buitenhof | |
| 7 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk, Heineken | ? | |
| 8 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Oegstgeest, Haaswijk | ? | |
| Around Leiden | |||
| 20 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Noordwijk, Duinpark | Oegstgeest, Rijnsburg | |
| 21 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Noordwijk, Duinpark | Oegstgeest, Rijnsburg | |
| 30 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Katwijk, ESA ESTEC | Transferium A44, Valkenburg, Katwijk aan den Rijn | |
| 31 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Katwijk, Boulevard-South | Transferium A44, Valkenburg, Katwijk aan den Rijn | |
| 37 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Katwijk, Raadhuis | Oegstgeest, Rijnsburg, Katwijk aan den Rijn | |
| 38 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Katwijk, Raadhuis | Transferium A44, Valkenburg, Katwijk aan den Rijn | |
| 43 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Den Haag, Centraal Station | Universiteitsterrein, Haagse Schouw, Wassenaar (De Kieviet, van Oldenbarneveltweg, Maaldrift), Mariahove, Bezuidenhout | |
| 45 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Den Haag, Centraal Station | Breestraat, Station Lammenschans, Voorschoten, GGZ Haagstreek, Station Leidschendam-Voorburg, Station Voorburg, Voorburg, Beatrixkwartier/Bezuidenhout | |
| 50 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Haarlem, Station | Oegstgeest, Warmond, Sassenheim, Lisse, Hillegom, Bennebroek, Heemstede | |
| 56 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Leimuiden | Leiderdorp, Oud Ade, Rijpwetering, Nieuwe Wetering, Roelofarendsveen, Oude Wetering, Leimuiderbrug | |
| 57 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Nieuw-Vennep, Station | Oegstgeest, Voorhout, Noordwijkerhout, Hillegom, Station, Beinsdorp | |
| 169 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Alphen aan den Rijn, Station | Zoeterwoude-Rijndijk, Hazerswoude-Rijndijk, Koudekerk aan den Rijn | |
| 182 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Alphen aan den Rijn, Station | Leiderdorp, Hoogmade, Woubrugge, Ter Aar | |
| 183 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Alphen aan den Rijn, Station | Leiderdorp, Hoogmade, Woubrugge | |
| 221 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Noordwijk, Picképlein | Transferium A44, Valkenburg, Katwijk | |
| 250 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Lisse, Keukenhofdreef | Sassenheim | |
| 365 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Schiphol, Plaza | Leiderdorp, Roelofarendsveen, Weteringbrug, Hoofddorp, De Hoek | |
| 400 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Zoetermeer, Centrum-West | Leiden, Zoeterwoude, Stompwijk | |
| 510 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Oegstgeest, Poelgeest | ||
| 854 | Leiden, Centraal Station - Lisse, Keukenhof | ||
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