Alkmaar railway station serves the town of

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. It is located approximately northwest of Amsterdam. The station opened on 20 December 1865 and is located on the

Den Helder–Amsterdam railway The Den Helder–Amsterdam railway is a railway line in the Netherlands running from Den Helder to Amsterdam, passing through Alkmaar and Zaandam. It is also called the '' Staatslijn K'' ("state line K") in Dutch. The line is 81 km long. The ...

. The train services are operated by

Nederlandse Spoorwegen Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS; ; en, "Dutch Railways") is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. It is a Dutch state-owned company founded in 1938. The Dutch rail network is one of the busiest in the European Union, and the ...

and it is an Intercity station, where all trains stop.

History

Alkmaar Station opened on 20 December 1865 when the railway opened between Alkmaar and Den Helder. This was the second railway opened by the

Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij The Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij () or HSM (''Hollands Iron Railway-Company'') was the first railway company in the Netherlands founded on 8 August 1837 as a private company, starting operation in 1839 with a line between Amsterdam ...

after the Amsterdam–Rotterdam railway. The line through Alkmaar was on the Staatslijn K railway, built by the Dutch state between 1865 and 1878. The station building is a standard station building of the State Railways of the 1860s The three other remaining station buildings of this style are in Harlingen,

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; fy, Ljouwert, longname=yes /; Town Frisian: ''Liwwadden''; Leeuwarder dialect: ''Leewarden'') is a city and municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 123,107 (2019). It is the provincial capital and seat of the ...

and

Winschoten Winschoten (; gos, Winschoot) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt in the province of Groningen which has 38,213 inhabitants. ...

. The station building of Alkmaar was expanded in 1879 and in 1908, by which time the entire building had two floors. A small extension was made on the south side of the station, making it asymmetrical. Following the middle part of the building was expanded forwards. In 1929 the north side of the station building was extended. In the 1960s the station entrance was altered, the hall of the station gained a glass front. The railway line from Amsterdam to Alkmaar was electrified in 1931. The line to Den Helder was electrified in 1958 and the line to Hoorn in 1974. Behind the platforms are 7 sidings, where trains are stabled between peak hours and at night. Between 2014 and 2016 the north side of the station area was altered significantly. A new bridge has been built over the tracks which will connect the Bergerhof area and the station better. The tunnel under the platforms was closed as a result.

Train services

The station is served by the following services: *2x per hour Intercity services ''(Schagen -) Alkmaar - Amsterdam - Utrecht - Eindhoven - Maastricht'' (not after 20:00 or on Sundays, operates to Schagen during peak hours) *2x per hour Intercity services ''Den Helder - Amsterdam - Utrecht - Arnhem - Nijmegen'' *2x per hour Intercity services ''Alkmaar - Haarlem'' (only on weekdays peak hours in the peak direction) *2x per hour Local services (''Sprinter'') ''Hoorn - Alkmaar - Uitgeest - Haarlem - Amsterdam'' A night Sprinter service operates on the route between Amsterdam – Uitgeest – Alkmaar – Den Helder.

Bus services

There is a bus station at the front of the station where the following bus services regularly depart from. All bus services are operated by

Connexxion Connexxion is a large Public transport in the Netherlands, public transport company in the Netherlands, operating in the west, middle, east and southwest parts of the country. It is owned by Transdev and Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten. It is a subs ...

, except 350 and 351 which is operated by

Arriva Arriva plc is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Sunderland, England.Afsluitdijk The ''Afsluitdijk'' (; fry, Ofslútdyk; nds-nl, Ofsluutdiek; en, "Closure Dyke") is a major dam and causeway in the Netherlands. It was constructed between 1927 and 1932 and runs from Den Oever in North Holland province to the village of ...

- Bolsward - Leeuwarden'' * 351 - ''Alkmaar - Harlingen'' * N60 – ''Alkmaar - Heerhugowaard'' Weekend Night bus * N69 – ''Alkmaar - Amsterdam'' Saturday Night bus

References

NS website

Dutch public transport travel planner
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alkmaar Railway Station Railway stations in North Holland Railway stations opened in 1865 Railway stations on the Staatslijn K