News of: Sunday, February 13 2005,
The new North-South line, the metro line connecting Amsterdam North with the Amsterdam World Trade Center, leads to a lot of damage and extra cost.
Shop owners along the line are entitled to reparation of damages, but complain the city is slow with payments, and the payments are far less than expected. Shop owners along the Rokin (between Dam Square and Mint tower) report they have to fire staff.
The line will go right through the old centre of Amsterdam, past the Central Station, Damrak, Rokin, Vijzelstraat (Flowermarket), to neighbourhood 'de Pijp' just south of the Centre.
The project is due to finish completely in 2011.
There have also been problems with construction and with building licenses, causing delay and extra costs. Due to a new digging technique (the tunnel is created without the street having to be opened) chaos is not everywhere, but where the new metro stations will be, there are large construction sites.
The City remains optimistic about the progress of the project.
By 2011 the Central Station will have
- a new underground bus station,
- the highway at the back of the station will be underground (ferry passengers can enter the Central Station directly, without having to cross a busy street),
- the station square will have been remodelled
- the station will have been remodelled on the inside
