More than two years after the start of direct Eurostar service between London and Amsterdam, it will soon finally be possible to make the trip the other way.
After a delay since 2018 in providing British customs service in the Netherlands and an extra five-month delay caused by pandemic lockdowns and delays, the direct service from Amsterdam and Rotterdam will start on October 26. Tickets will go on sale Tuesday.
Because the UK is not a member of the Schengen customs union, passengers headed to the UK must be cleared by customs before boarding in Europe. Until the new arrangements were made, passengers from Amsterdam had to take another train to Brussels to get on Eurostar, and the Eurostar trains that went to Amsterdam had to return to Brussels empty.
Ticket prices for the four-hour trip start at €46. The Amsterdam-London route is one of Europe’s busiest air corridors. Many are counting on the direct service to take some traffic away from airlines; Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport is counting on that for some relief from its tight flight restrictions.
