Starting next Friday and until early December, due to renovation work, trains travelling through the Schiphol Airport Station will experience major disruptions — but fear not! We have information on how to deal with it.
According to the NS, the renovation work will take place on these specific dates:
- From Friday, 8 November, to Sunday, 10 November, and
- From Saturday, 16 November to Tuesday, 3 December.
During this period, trains will either run less often, be delayed, or be cancelled altogether — depending on the day.
Here’s the specific travel advice for each date. 👇
Almost no trains for two weekends
The most severe disruptions will happen on the second and last weekends of November —that is, from Friday, 8 to Sunday, 10, and Friday, 29 to Sunday, 1 December.
On these days, no trains will run between Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Zuid, and only half of the regular trains will run between Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Centraal, Leiden Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal.
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To deal with the Schiphol-Zuid disruption, NS recommends that passengers travel via Amsterdam Lelylaan instead.
From there, they can reach Zuid using the metro, without buying any additional tickets: between Lelylaan and Zuid, NS tickets will exceptionally be valid on the metro as well.
And fewer trains on these days
The other dates you should note down are Saturday, 16 to Thursday, 28 November, as well as Monday, 2 and Tuesday, 3 December.
On these dates, slightly less disruptive work will take place, meaning that trains will still run, but there will be far fewer of them.
As such, passengers travelling from, to, or via Schiphol Airport should expect crowded or delayed trains, and plan accordingly.
Why is this happening?
The disruptions are due to a major maintenance project — called “Major Maintenance Schiphol” (creative) — carried out by ProRail to renovate the tracks and tunnels at and around Schiphol.
The project has been going on since 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2028.
What could they possibly be building that’s taking so long, you ask? Well, it’s no Sistine Chapel, but it’s still pretty impressive work:
General advice
Generally, NS advises passengers to either avoid the Schiphol Airport station altogether by using diversion routes, or at least avoid the rush hours (7:30-10 PM and 4-6:30 PM).
If you must travel to Schiphol during this period, you should take into account longer travel times, and consult the NS App or the special “Work at Schiphol 2024” page for the most up-to-date information.
Our advice? Maybe just walk to Schiphol. It’ll be good exercise in preparation for the trek that awaits you inside the airport anyway. Thank us later!
Will you be disrupted by this Major Maintenance? Tell us about your struggles — and your creative solutions — in the comments below!