Eurostar, the high-speed passenger service between the UK and continental Europe, has signed an agreement with the Dutch railways to launch a direct service between London and Amsterdam from December 2016. The new service will mean a four-hour journey between the two cities.
The new Eurostar service will feature its new e320 trains, which will be interoperable and compatible with the Dutch high-speed signalling systems.
The announcement was made by the Dutch Secretary of State for infrastructure and the environment as part of a package of measures to enhance the services on the Dutch high-speed line and will be ratified by the Dutch Parliament over the coming months.
Since becoming a standalone corporate entity in September 2010, Eurostar has had clear ambitions to expand its business beyond its existing destinations and to encourage passengers to choose high-speed rail over plane for short-haul European travel. In the last year, the business has introduced new services to the Swiss Alps and Provence in the South of France.
The London-Amsterdam route is the busiest international airline market in Europe attracting 3m business and leisure passengers. Eurostar is hoping that with the arrival of a direct high-speed rail service between the UK and the Netherlands, passengers can look forward to an alternative to the airlines.
Eurostar plans to run two services a day between London and Amsterdam with journey times of around four hours. These services will run via Brussels to Amsterdam stopping at Antwerp, Rotterdam, Schiphol Airport and Amsterdam Central.
In addition to providing a direct high-speed link between the UK and the Netherlands, this service will also enhance the scope for customers to connect to a range of destinations in mainland Europe.
“We have long been ambitious for expansion to new destinations so today’s announcement marks a major advance in our growth plans,” says Chief Executive of Eurostar, Nicolas Petrovic.
Eurostar is the high-speed train service linking St Pancras International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Paris, Brussels, Lille, Calais, Disneyland Resort Paris, Avignon and the French Alps.
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