Eurostar trains will not be able to travel directly from Amsterdam to London for six months in the second half of 2024 due to the renovation of the Dutch city’s Centraal rail station.
The move, which will apply from June 2024, means that passengers wanting to travel from Amsterdam to London will have to change trains at Brussels before heading to the UK capital. But trains running from London to Amsterdam via Rotterdam will continue to operate as normal during this six-month period.
The construction work at Amsterdam Centraal station will see its current terminal close at the end of June 2024, which means it will no longer have the facilities to carry out the formalities needed to allow passengers to travel directly to London during the project.
Eurostar has previously said that a proposal to move the Dutch departure/arrivals lounge from Amsterdam to Rotterdam was “not viable due to capacity and safety reasons”.
Initially it had been feared that the station’s renovation could lead to up to one year of disruption for Eurostar’s Amsterdam-London services. The new terminal is now scheduled to open in January 2025.
Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO of Eurostar Group, said: “We are pleased that the discussions have shortened the gap in services between Amsterdam and London from 12 to six months, and we continue to work on reducing the inconvenience for passengers, local residents and the economy of Amsterdam and surrounding areas.
“Our focus must now turn to how we can offer the best experience and journey connections for Eurostar customers in this period. As part of this work, we will still run services directly between London and Amsterdam one way as a minimum.
“We will be working collaboratively in the coming weeks to further mitigate the impacts for Eurostar and its customers over the six-month gap and more information will be made available in due course.”
Dutch rail operator NS International said all parties had worked towards a solution to allow direct Eurostar services to continue from Amsterdam to London during the reconstruction.
“Unfortunately, after various investigations, we have to conclude that such a solution does not exist,” said NS in a statement. “Together, we have chosen to take a step back in the second half of 2024 and not run Eurostar directly to London for a period of time.
“Passengers travelling from Amsterdam and Rotterdam to London will have to change trains once in Brussels. In early 2025, we will travel directly between Amsterdam and London more frequently and with more passengers onboard.”