Eurostar’s handy rail-route between Amsterdam and London is officially back on track – and we’re pretty ‘dam happy to hear it. The direct route between the two capital cities had been suspended whilst construction work has been taking place at Amsterdam Centraal station to facilitate the more intensive border control and security checks that have been required since Brexit.
Since June 2024, passengers travelling from Amsterdam to London have had to make a 48 minute pit-stop in Brussels, where they’ve been required to disembark the train and go through passport control, before continuing on to London. But this is now a thing of the past, as the legendary inter-city locomotive has now resumed its direct service.
Amsterdam Centraal station has undergone a renovation as speedy as the Eurostar itself. Additional facilities have been swiftly added to enable the direct service to resume. The new service has capacity for 440 passengers compared to the previous 275 passenger capacity, thanks to the upgraded space at the newly-revamped station. Eurostar is eventually aiming for a total capacity of 700 passengers on each service.
The journey from London to Amsterdam has been able to run as normal since June, and will continue to do so this year. The direct journey takes 3 hours 52 minutes and prices start at £39 each way. Although the train journey time being longer than that of a flight; the Eurostar lands you slap bang in the middle of each city, and is far better for the environment (and your conscience).
Gwendoline Cazenave, CEO of Eurostar, said: “Eurostar is fully committed to a bright future in the Netherlands and we thank our partners NS and Prorail for their work with us to ensure direct services to London could return and those to Paris and Brussels could continue. We look forward to the opening of the new Amsterdam terminal, which is going to offer more space and an exceptional experience for customers.”
Find out more and plan your journey here.