The oldest station in The Hague is
Den Haag Hollands Spoor, opened in 1843 by the
Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij when the railway between
Amsterdam and
Leiden was extended to The Hague and
Rotterdam. This station was located at some distance from the city centre, just across what was then the municipal boundary of
Rijswijk. In 1870, the
Nederlandsche Rhijnspoorweg-Maatschappij (NRS) opened a second station in The Hague closer to the city centre. This station, Den Haag Rijnspoor, would service eastbound trains to
Gouda and
Utrecht. When the NRS was nationalised in 1890, this
Gouda–Den Haag railway became the property of the
Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen, and the station was renamed Den Haag Staatsspoor. Den Haag Staatsspoor was a small building designed by A.W. van Erkel situated parallel to the railway, with the entrance facing sideways toward the city centre. This was designed to facilitate an extension of the railway to
Scheveningen, which was constructed in 1907 but closed again in 1953. Staatsspoor was connected to Hollands Spoor and the
Amsterdam–Haarlem–Rotterdam railway for passengers in the late 19th century, but that connection, too, was later discontinued. The building was notable for containing a
royal waiting room for use by the
Dutch monarchy. In 1962, urban designer David Jokinen saw an opportunity to put an end to the situation with two main stations where Staatsspoor and Hollands Spoor each served only part of the rail traffic. The
Jokinen Plan included demolishing the Staatsspoor station entirely. The railway from Utrecht and Gouda would terminate at Hollands Spoor, which would then become the city's central railway station. The demolition of the railway to Staatsspoor, meanwhile, would make space for an urban motorway and a monorail line. However, the plan was never realised. In the 1960s, planned for The Hague to get a central railway station. While it initially intended to rebuild Hollands Spoor into a central railway station, The municipality of The Hague resisted this plan because it preferred a location closer to the city centre so that government buildings would be more accessible. Moreover, the buildings around Hollands Spoor provided little space for expansion of tracks and platforms in the future. It was therefore decided that a new station would be built next to Staatsspoor. With plans for an extension of the railway to Scheveningen definitively cancelled, this new station would become the terminal station of the Gouda–Den Haag railway. Construction started in 1970, and on 27 September 1973, the construction had advanced enough to allow for the opening a number of platforms. Trains previously headed for Staatsspoor were transferred to Centraal Station, and the now-redundant Staatsspoor was demolished in the same year. At the time of the building's demolition, its royal waiting room was dismantled and stored; it was put on display in the
Railway Museum (Netherlands) in
Utrecht in the early 2000s. Although Centraal station is the largest station in The Hague, it is served only by terminating trains;
Intercity and international trains travelling between Amsterdam and Rotterdam stop only at Hollands Spoor station, while trains from Utrecht and Gouda can only reach Centraal station. The Hague is the only city in the Netherlands retaining two separate major railway hubs, although since its opening Amsterdam Zuid station has been growing in importance as a second major railway hub for Amsterdam, alternative to Amsterdam Centraal station. By the 2010s, the number of travellers per day had grown to 190,000, and had outgrown its capacity. In order to increase the station's capacity, a renovation of its main hall was started in 2011. The roof was replaced by one which is higher, and made of diamond-shaped glass plates placed in a framework of stainless steel. Moreover, more commercial space was added next to both side entrances, and new tiling was placed. The new main hall was opened by State Secretary
Sharon Dijksma and mayor
Jozias van Aartsen on 1 February 2016. ==Train services==