Station Amsterdam RAI - Station Amsterdam RAI

Mooi station.

I love this station.

Small station with no shop except for a Kiosk. Perfect connection for the RAI arena

Amsterdam RAI is a metro and railway station located on the southern branch of the Amsterdam Ringspoorbaan between the lanes of the A10. The station is located between Amsterdam Zuid station and Duivendrecht station and is served by trains, metros/express trams and tram line 4. The metro station and the stops of city transport have the official name RAI Station. The names of the station refer to the nearby RAI complex. The first RAI station was opened in 1981, at the same time as the Schiphol line Schiphol – Leiden, and was the temporary terminus of this line. This first station had one platform, with one track and no switches. From the train it was possible to transfer directly to tram line 4, which had its terminus on the opposite side of the platform. In 1988 the high-lying terminus of this tram expired due to the construction work for the Amstelveen line and a low-lying tram track was built under the viaducts. Subsequently, a new platform was constructed for this metro/express tram line 51, which was put into use in 1990. The metro platform consists of an island platform with two tracks. It is shifted more to the west compared to the NS station. There is no connection whatsoever between the appearance of the two platforms. Originally, the platform was not equipped with a platform roof. The platform roof, identical to the other platform roofs of the Ringlijn stations, was installed in 1997. The old station was replaced in 1992 by a new station with an island platform and two tracks. The railway was extended to Duivendrecht – Weesp in 1993. The station, designed by architect Rob Steenhuis, has transparent curved walls with a lot of see-through. The 150 m long canopy resembles a cat's head in shape. The striking thing is that the tracks are completely enclosed by the glass walls (and the roof). This gives passengers maximum protection from rain and wind and is a feature not often found at smaller stations. For example, the much less busy Diemen Zuid station, which was designed at the same time and in the same style, does not have this shelter with glass walls on the side. In 2015, the west and east walls were brightened up by the Mise-en-scene artwork. As part of the expansion to a four-track railway, a new island platform was built south of the current station in 2015. The new platform does have a roof, but no glass walls like the other platform has. It was also not decided to design the roof in the same style. The new tracks were put into use on 10 August 2016. The old island platform is now only used for trains in the direction of Schiphol, the new platform is used for trains in the direction of Duivendrecht. The new platform was given track numbers 1 and 2, while the old platform was given track numbers 3 and 4 instead of 1 and 2. During busy events such as the Huishoudbeurs, the intercity trains Schiphol – Groningen/Leeuwarden, Schiphol – Lelystad Centrum, Schiphol – Eindhoven and Schiphol – Nijmegen stop at this station. The station is a stop for two metro lines: the Amstelveen line (51) has stopped here since 1990 and the Ring line (50) has stopped here since 1997. Since 3 March 2019, the Amstelveen line has been replaced by metro line 51. At the bottom of the station there is also a stop for tram line 4, which has its terminus just past the station. The buses that serve the station also stop at this stop. Transport around RAI station is carried out by the GVB on behalf of the Vervoerregio Amsterdam. The station therefore falls under the "Amsterdam" concession area.