After months of cancellation, the direct Amsterdam-London Eurostar train will be back in service on February 10th. In the future, the Eurostar will have significantly more capacity, allowing hundreds of extra passengers to board in Amsterdam.
Due to a major renovation of Amsterdam Central Station, the Amsterdam-London Eurostar train has been suspended since June 15th. Due to the United Kingdom’s non-participation in the Schengen area, border controls were not possible at the station.
The train to London now requires a change in Brussels.
Starting in February, the Eurostar will be able to transport a significant amount of passengers from Amsterdam thanks to the renovation.
The trains have room for 900 passengers on board, but in Amsterdam only 250 passengers could board each time. Passengers are also still boarding in Rotterdam and Brussels.
From February, 450 passengers will be able to board in Amsterdam and ‘somewhere in the spring or summer’ that will be increased to 650, according to Eurostar. ‘Then the work on the terminal will be completely finished.’
That Eurostar would continue to operate in the Netherlands initially seemed uncertain. Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave criticised the speed restrictions on the high-speed line, due to design flaws.
“Eurostar has prepared everything to run from Amsterdam to the British capital again in early 2025, as planned. However, we are concerned about the lack of guarantees and binding agreements on the readiness of essential parts of the necessary infrastructure for restarting the connection.” She added that, this summer, Eurostar was informed that renovation work would limit the availability of platforms from the spring of 2025, giving Eurostar access to platforms that are half as long as needed. “So far, there is no clear indication of how long these capacity restrictions will remain in place,” said Cazenave.
Share on:
