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June '24 to Jan '25 No Amsterdam to London Eurostar

Since June there have been various reports about potential disruptions to service from Amsterdam to London. This is the most recent news for the planned disruption.

Amsterdam-Rotterdam-London, the fastest-growing of Eurostar’s intercity routes, is to close for around six months, Dutch Railways (NS) has announced.

Eurostar trains will run empty on the route between June 2024 and January 2025, picking up London-bound travellers on arrival in Brussels.

Eurostar says passengers will still be able to travel outbound from London to both Dutch cities.

Refurbishment of Centraal station in the Dutch capital is responsible for the closure. There will not be sufficient space to handle London-bound passengers at the station, given the more intensive post-Brexit formalities.

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/eurostar-london-amsterdam-trains-cancelled-b2453340.html

https://www.barrons.com/news/amsterdam-to-lose-eurostar-london-service-for-6-months-6ea8652c

Posted by
10188 posts

Yes - as noted in all articles about this (and as you quote above), just to underline that trains will continue running from London to Amsterdam during this time.

Posted by
730 posts

That’s interesting. I took the Eurostar from Amsterdam to London earlier this year and was stunned at how small and crowded the processing area was at Centraal Station. I guess at the time it opened, there was no need for passport formalities.

Posted by
4853 posts

The Eurostar was heavily impacted by Brexit in many ways

Posted by
875 posts

I realize that's the easy popular low hanging fruit excuse for everything.

But

Juxtaposed border controls have operated since the 1990s as a tripartite agreement between Belgium, France and UK. It use to be that travelers from Amsterdam to London did border formalities in Brussels, it's now with the relatively recent inauguration of direct routes from Amsterdam to London that those Schengan exit and UK entry formalities get to take place in Amsterdam.

Posted by
33817 posts

what is required to happen at border control for Eurostar is much different and slower than what was required prior to Brexit.

Posted by
8048 posts

what is required to happen at border control for Eurostar is much different and slower than what was required prior to Brexit.

Nothing, nothing at all. Bear in mind the issue of brexit was only a part of the article by the Independent, the Barrons article has nary a word.

Posted by
1587 posts

It’s a shame that this very helpful post has turned into a political discussion.
Especially since Brexit has nothing to do with why the Eurostar trains to London won’t run from next June to Jan ‘25.
Amsterdam Central train station is undergoing major remodeling, extensions and restorations. Just about everything from the building to the train tracks will undergo repairs, restructuring or something else.
It’s already a miracle that during the works regular trains can continue to arrive at and depart from Amsterdam Central train station. Those who arrived or departed by train from Amsterdam Central train station recently will understand why I write this.
Even before Brexit, passengers to London needed to go thru security and passport checks. You need plenty of room in order to process a train full of passengers and room is very scarce at Amsterdam central airport in the next couple of years.

Posted by
7837 posts

It has been announced today that the through services to Amsterdam will be reduced from 4 to 3 per day for the duration of the work.

From Amsterdam to London a connection via Brussels will be provided with either a 48 minute or a 1 hour 48 minute connection, depending on how long the passport checks take. But as you avoid the 90 minute check in time at Amsterdam, this is in practice no longer in overall journey time, and potentially faster.