Eurostar will no longer be able to travel to the Netherlands as of June 2024

Eurostar, the high-speed train that connects the Netherlands with the United Kingdom, will no longer be able to travel to the Netherlands from June 2024. Eurostar reports this to Treinreisiger.nl. According to Eurostar, up to 21 more flights are needed due to the drastic measure. The operator is therefore sounding the alarm.

Terminal overhauled

“We have heard alarming reports that our train will no longer be able to travel to Amsterdam from June 2024,” a Eurostar spokesperson told Treinreisiger.nl. The current terminal of the high-speed train will be renovated, and no alternative will initially be available. However, travelers are not allowed on the train until they have been checked for their passport in the terminal and have gone through a security check.

The current terminal will have to close its doors in June 2024 due to work, State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen also writes to the House of Representatives. A new terminal in the Amstelpassage of Amsterdam Central should offer a solution, but it will only be ready between January and May 2025. The State Secretary is also not happy with the situation and has asked an external party to investigate. “The external party has come to the conclusion that no optimal (easy) solution is possible,” writes Heijnen.

Solution

There is indeed no simple solution, but there is a complex solution. This is evident from the draft final report of the second opinion that is in the hands of Treinreisiger.nl. The researchers investigated three scenarios, one of which (option A) continued to use the existing terminal. “Option A is technically very complex, but does not seem unsolvable,” the researchers write. However, trains could temporarily not run at various times due to work. “Safety problems with contractors are complex, but do not appear to be unsolvable,” the researchers write in the second opinion.

Eurostar would have liked the Secretary of State to have chosen this option. And NS International was also initially in favor of this. The carrier indicates that passenger flows can be separated by using other routes. But ProRail has a different view on this. According to the railway manager, it is not feasible from a safety point of view. State Secretary Heijnen: “After an external test and follow-up talks between safety experts from NS and ProRail, it was jointly decided to drop this variant.”

Not even from Rotterdam

Shortening the train to Rotterdam is not an option. “Then only 160 passengers can come on board, while our train can accommodate 900 passengers,” explains a spokesman for Eurostar. As a result, the train can never be operated commercially to cover costs. Incidentally, the Eurostar is already running half empty from the Netherlands, because there is room for up to 265 passengers in Amsterdam. With the train passengers from Rotterdam, a maximum of 420 passengers can therefore board in our country. The empty seats are filled in Belgium.

Eurostar is displeased with the current situation. “We recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of the London – Amsterdam train service. In that period, the number of train passengers has grown considerably,” says the Eurostar spokesman. He points out that the number of trains has been increased from two to four. “We would like to introduce a fifth train in March”. Given the current developments, it is highly questionable whether this will continue.

Consultation

On Monday, talks will take place between Eurostar, ProRail and the Ministry of Infrastructure. Insiders tell Treinreisiger.nl that no decision has been made for too long. “This bottleneck has been known for four years, but no one is banging their fist on the table and making real choices,” says one person involved.

Eurostar points out that the train is very sustainable, and that if the train does not run, more people will fly. “On our trains there are as many passengers as in 21 flights”. However, according to the State Secretary, the four trains are currently being used by about 2,000 travelers a day.

From the plane

The cabinet has previously drawn up an action plan to get passengers from the plane to the train. Expectations were high especially for the direct train to London. After all, there are 50 flights per day on the Amsterdam – London route. The train could change that, just as Eurostar managed to do before with the launch of the London – Paris train service. But such a process is time consuming. “In 2018, the first train ran from London to Amsterdam, only two and a half years later it could also go the other way. Now that we can take the train after years of waiting and the popularity is growing, they will soon be back to square one,” says editor Hildebrand van Kuijeren of Treinreisiger.nl.