Direct Eurostar Amsterdam - London Services Started

On 26 October 2020 Eurostar has started to operate direct high speed services from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London St. Pancras. For them, terminals for Eurostar passengers have been established in both the Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal stations. In these terminals, tickets are inspected, security control and ID/pass controls are taking place. 

For arranging the direct train service an international agreement has been concluded between the Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom. The direct services save over one hour of journey time. They were to start in April, but due to the pandemic the necessary works were not completed in time. Moreover, Eurostar had suspended train services into the Netherlands for a while.

Until now there were only direct Eurostar high speed services from the British capital to the Dutch capital. Traveling to London, passengers from the Netherlands had to leave the train and board again later, after security and pass controls in the Eurostar premises in Brussels South station. In fact it was an interchange between the two trains. A shorter journey time could be achieved when traveling by Thalys half an hour later and makeing the change to Eurostar at Brussels South. The direct Amsterdam to London service takes about 4 hours.

The first direct Eurostar from Amsterdam to London departed at 07.47 h from Amsterdam Centraal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no inauguration, and the train was almost empty. The number of Eurostar services has been reduced as passenger volumes have dramatically dropped by the COVID-19 situation. 

Quintus Vosman