Amsterdam Central Station has joined the ranks of the top railway stations in Europe — somehow.
The European Railway Station Index 2022 from the Consumer Choice Centre ranked the 50 largest European railway stations for passenger experience.
It researched how crowded platforms are, onsite food and drink options, wheelchair accessibility, first-class lounges, WiFi, accessibility to the number of destinations, and more.
Switzerland’s Zürich Main Station took the crown, while our beloved jewel of the Netherlands, Amsterdam Centraal, shares equal second place with Frankfurt Main Hbf, München Hbf, Berlin Hbf, and Milano Centrale. 🇩🇪 🇮🇹 🇳🇱
That’s right! The delightful Amsterdam Centraal, where you have to choose your entrance according to the least amount of urine smell, scored 92 out of 108 possible points. Niet slecht!
Seriously?
Of course, we’re not surprised. Where else than Amsterdam Centraal could they just rename the departures board “Cancelled”?
Where else are escalators mere decoration, where tourists high on weed wander around bumping into things, where they have to play pickpocket announcements at regular intervals because all the tourists keep falling victim to them?
Of course, it’s not all bad. Amsterdam Centraal has some great options! Like how you can choose to buy a crappy but cheap coffee from Albert Heijn or a delicious but overpriced coffee from Starbucks.
Okay, we will fully acknowledge that it’s not the worst train station in the world. After all, it does have some pretty great architecture. But second-best? Really?
The top 10 (apparently)
| Station | Ranking |
|---|---|
| Zurich HB | 1 |
| Frankfurt Main Hbf | =2 |
| Munich Hbf | =2 |
| Berlin Hbf | =2 |
| Milano Centrale | =2 |
| Amsterdam Centraal | =2 |
| Gare de Lyon (Paris) | 7 |
| Roma Termini | 8 |
| Hannover Hbf | =9 |
| Düsseldorf Hbf | =9 |
Are you surprised by this ranking? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
Oslo central is best, you cannot change my mind.
Wow! This author has quite a negative view on the beautiful Centraal Station.
I wonder why…🤔
What happened to make author believe Consumer Choice Centre is not correct?
Perhaps her lines about the Departures board explains (some of) it.
Also, second best is ‘relative’ isn’t it, when shared with 5 others?
It’s Europe’s best list, not world best. The world best for me would be Tokyo station which coincidentally is a copy of Amsterdam CS building…..actually almost any Japanese train station is very good