Published on February 26, 2026

Rotterdam Central: From eyesore to city showcase

Rotterdam Central is the station where I have arrived and departed thousands of times in my life. I remember the original, high-ceilinged arrival hall with its numbered ticket windows well. In the late '80s and early '90s, however, there was a grim atmosphere; the station was crawling with heroin addicts due to the magnetic pull of Perron 0 (Platform 0). This was a well-intentioned shelter initiative, but it quickly spiraled completely out of control.

Shoplifters and wild chases

Back then, I worked during the day in a shop on Binnenwegplein. Almost daily, we would apprehend one or two addicted shoplifters. Most cooperated meekly, but it also regularly led to wild chases and fights. A police van drove through the city all day long to pick up thieves from everywhere and write up police reports at the station. However, the addicts were released again immediately afterward, after which they naturally, promptly tried their luck at the next shop.

An unsafe feeling

In the evenings, after work, I would run into the same faces again on my way to the train. Addicts always loitered around the station entrance to ask travelers for money or cigarettes. At the back of the station, towards the Provenierssingel, the situation was not much better; that was the streetwalking zone for young boys. The station was a bleak, depressing environment where there were constant arguments between junkies and the taxi drivers at the taxi stand. The architecture of the old station, with its many blind spots and bleak little tunnels, only reinforced that feeling of unsafety.