History
The station opened June 3, 1847 as the Delftsche Poort railway station. This station was, however, no real central station. Trains from/towards Utrecht departed from Rotterdam Maas railway station and from 1908, Hofplein station served electric trains towards The Hague. Delftsche Poort and Maas station were destroyed in the Rotterdam Blitz. Thereafter, the railway to Utrecht was moved to the north, joining the line between The Hague and Rotterdam since 1953 via the west (remarkable, because Utrecht is to the east causing a long curve west of the station). The former Delftsche Poort station location was designated to become the location of the new Central Station. A station building designed by Sybold van Ravesteyn opened in 1957. On February 9, 1968, the station was expanded with a metro platform under the square in front of the station. The 1957 station closed on September 2, 2007 and has been demolished. The building became too small for the increasing number of passengers. Completion of a new public transport terminal is expected in 2013.
The station currently has 13 platforms, many being island platforms. The station is on the Amsterdam–Rotterdam railway, Breda–Rotterdam railway, Utrecht–Rotterdam railway and the HSL-Zuid. There is a train/metro service under the station on Rotterdam Metro line D, and, as of 2010, on RandstadRail line E.
Read more about this topic: Rotterdam Centraal Railway Station
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