[1][2] National and international railway services at Amsterdam Centraal are provided by NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen), the principal rail operator in the Netherlands.

It features a Gothic, Renaissance Revival station building[3] and a cast iron platform roof spanning approximately 40 metres.

While Cuypers was the principal architect, it is believed that he focused mostly on the decoration of the station building and left the structural design to railway engineers.

The idea for a central station came from Johan Rudolph Thorbecke, then the Netherlands Minister of the Interior and responsible for the national railways, who, in 1884, laid two proposals before the Amsterdam municipal council.

[5] Cuypers' design of the station building in many ways strongly resembled his other architectural masterpiece, the Rijksmuseum, of which the construction had begun in 1876.

It features a palace-like, Gothic/Renaissance Revival facade,[3] with two turrets and many ornamental details and stone reliefs referring to the capital city's industrial and commercial importance.

A royal waiting room for the Dutch monarchy (one of three in active use in the country today) was also included in the design.

[6] Cuypers' station reflects the romantic nationalistic mood in the late nineteenth-century Netherlands, with its many decorative elements glorifying the nation's economic and colonial power at the time.

Nevertheless, the building of the Central Station in front of the open harbour was forced through by the railway department of the Ministry of Transport in The Hague, and the Home Secretary, Thorbecke.

Finally, the plan made its way through the Amsterdam municipal council by a narrow majority.

These islands were created with sand taken from the dunes near Velsen, which had become available as a result of the excavation of the North Sea Canal.

The construction of the station was delayed because of the instability of the soil, which set back the completion of the work by several years.

In addition, the number of tracks on that side was expanded in order to increase capacity in the direction of Sloterdijk station.

Since 1997, the station has been continuously undergoing reconstruction works because of the development of the North-South Line of the Amsterdam Metro, which was originally planned to be completed in 2014.

Due to several setbacks, some at the Amsterdam Centraal building site, the line was fully completed in 2018.

In addition, two new passageways were created enabling the hosting of larger retail stores, geared towards passengers who have more time to spend at the station.

On 4 February 2020, the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, and the UK Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, announced that juxtaposed controls would be established in the station.

[18] From Amsterdam Central Station, one can travel by train to most major destinations in the Netherlands and surrounding countries.

The metro station is only accessible with an OV-chipkaart smart card, the national fare system for public transport in the Netherlands.

Disposable cards for one-hour, one-day or multiple-day use are available at ticket machines in the metro station hall.

As of December 2014, all night buses depart from platform G on the lake side of the station and call at all main entertainment areas in Amsterdam's city centre, including Leidseplein and Rembrandtplein.

Just behind the station is the EYE Film Institute Netherlands, easily accessible with a free ferry.