Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

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

by jatwork • 3 years ago

47 60 3 years ago

independent.co.uk

dr_dshiv• 3 years ago

Now we have to take cheap flights and feel bad…

Or just take a non-Eurostar train to Brussels, do tourist stuff there for a day, and transfer to the Eurostar for the trip home.

tonyedgecombe• 3 years ago

You can still go by train, you just have to change at Brussels.

jpatt4• 3 years ago

You can still take the train from London to Amsterdam so you only have to feel half as bad.

vavooom• 3 years ago

"Refurbishment of Centraal station in the Dutch capital is responsible for the closure."

Seems like they just won't be able to handle the capacity of too many visitors at once with the construction. Hopefully will help set the station up for continued success in the future!

piepiepie• 3 years ago

Because Great Britain is not part of the Schengen customs zone, customs checks are required before boarding the train (this is the only train at the station with such checks). Due to the renovation, the part of the station where passport and baggage checks by customs officers were performed is to close down && turns out there's not enough space at the station to house temporary border checks, so... no train.

oh_sigh• 3 years ago

Why do custom checks happen in NL on the ground, and not on-train? The train still goes through Belgium(at least), where no customs checks would be required

jochem9• 3 years ago

Part of the renovation is increasing the capacity of the Eurostar terminal. From 250 to 600 (a Eurostar train has a capacity of ~800, but the train is rarely full at Amsterdam, as passengers also board at other train stations).

em5003• 3 years ago

This is because of customs and border controls required by the UK, which needs a large separated and secured section inside the train station. Trains to other European destinations don't need any of that. Note that this direct route with border controls in Amsterdam has only been available since 2020. Before that all the checks were done in Brussels, a situation that they will revert to during the six months of refurbishment.

sschueller2• 3 years ago

A lot of European countries do not permit continued use of rail infrastructure while being serviced as it can be quite dangerous. [1]

Switzerland is an exception to this but it results in extremely complex infrastructure projects with of course a much higher cost and more accidents. However having the infrastructure available in many cases prevents overall economic losses due to less trains etc.

[1] https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/unfaelle-mit-bauzuegen-gleis...

jpatt4• 3 years ago

The line itself isn't being serviced, it is the station. UK-bound lines take up excessive space due to Brexit-related security controls, so there isn't enough space for both the security and the construction areas.

They're still running the line from London to Amsterdam, which is why the line is still running and why the trains have to deadhead back.

martinald2• 3 years ago

Nothing to do with Brexit, same thing happened before. It's because the UK wasn't in Schengen and the channel tunnel regulations require security (which is a waste of time, but it's because the tunnel was inaugurated when the IRA bombing campaign was in full flow)

JoeSpaghettio• 3 years ago

That isnt actually a brexit thing. There always was passport controls as the UK was never part of Schengen.

formerly_proven• 3 years ago

Nonsense.

sschueller2• 3 years ago

"However, it must be taken into account that in most European countries routes are simply closed as soon as construction begins. This is not possible in Switzerland because of the busy rail network. That's why operations in Switzerland continue during construction and renovation work - which poses more risks."

https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/unfaelle-mit-bauzuegen-gleis...

rewmie4• 3 years ago

Such a weird news story. Amsterdam is running a campaign to literally ask British tourists to stay away from the city.

https://www.euronews.com/travel/2023/03/29/see-amsterdams-ne...

And yet, the Netherlands is investing in their infrastructure to literally unload an even larger volume of tourists straight from London into the very heart of Amsterdam?

What gives? This sounds awfully contradictory.

cameronh90• 3 years ago

Not all international travel is party tourism. Both London and Amsterdam are important financial hubs with a lot of business travel between them, as well as popular places to visit for family-friendly reasons.

rewmie4• 3 years ago

Not all international travel is party tourism.

Tourism from Great Britain to Amsterdam is party tourism. They are increasing the volume of tourists they can cart in with a transportation mode that's even cheaper at the expense of taking longer trips. These are not business types. In fact British tourism is already synonym of booze tourism.

jzwinck• 3 years ago

Eurostar would prefer business travellers. It may get its wish when it moves to Amsterdam Zuid station in 2036 (nearer the new business district, farther the stroopwafels).

rewmie4• 3 years ago

Eurostar would prefer business travellers.

Unless they break a few laws to discriminate against people of w certain social makeup right at the gates, what they prefer or not is really not relevant. What matters is who actually tides the trains to get to Amsterdam, and the bulk of this tourism market is not business types but drunkard booze cruisers.

Freak_NL• 3 years ago

International trains don't just connect the cities at both ends; they connect hubs from where you can travel onwards as well. Besides, the idea is not to discourage tourism completely, just to limit it to sensible levels. For the tourists that do come promoting train travel is very much part of the broader green ambitions in Europe.

Besides, those stag-party and hen-do lads and ladettes come packed in short haul EastJet flights.

nyreed2• 3 years ago

Dramatic Headline. Only the direct trains will stop. The majority of the Amsterdam to London trains already involved a change in Brussels, where they do have a large and chaotic border control area for onward travel to London. These will still be running.

Eurostar wanted to change this to allow direct trains from Amsterdam around the time of the pandemic, but they always struggled for space. I suppose this construction will result in a definitive solution.

cycomanic2• 3 years ago

I always thought the eurostar was a great demonstration how not to do it.

Shitty trains (compared to e.g. the ICE, TGV or Thalys), the stupid border control/security requirements with huge queues which meant you had to be there >45min early, they even mimicked lounges from airline travel. It's like because they wanted to compete with air travel across the channel, they thought "how can we make train travel the most like air travel" adopting most of the stupid things. I half expect them to build a separate train station next, somewhere in the middle of nowhere with extra expensive public transport connections.

bestouff• 3 years ago

They already did that; in France we have e.g. "Valence TGV" which is a secondary train station far from anything, whereas Valence already has a train station in the city center.

All other major cities have the same thing now.

orwin• 3 years ago

Depends what you call major. Nantes and Rennes don't have external train stations.

em5003• 3 years ago

Most of what you describe is not because they want to make train travel like air travel, but because the UK never signed the Schengen Agreement (so they need to check and stamp passports) and because of Brexit (so they need to inspect baggage for import/exports), unlike train routes between other EU/Schengen destinations.

cm21872• 3 years ago

I didn't notice a change in baggage inspections. The inspection occurs when you leave the terminal in London, but that's not blocking, like in airports, you just walk through unless you are one of the few unlucky ones. In 15 years it only happened to me once, and that was before Brexit (they mostly search for drugs and other illegal products).

agent3272• 3 years ago

I have traveled between Amsterdam and London by Eurostar and by plane, and I don't see why anyone would take the train, considering that it takes much longer and also costs much more.

To put some numbers to this, if I were to travel to London on December 13th (a Wednesday), I'm looking at 120 euro for a five hour trip by train. Or I can fly for 76 euro and be there in an hour.

Oh, and the train also requires you to be there an hour early, so you don't get the advantage of showing up late either.

laurencerowe3• 3 years ago

I’ve made this trip by train in the past (changing at Brussels). It is a little slower but you need to consider the time getting to and from the airports.

Unless you’re flying from London City Airport you’re only really saving an hour. The train is far more pleasant.

This was pre-Brexit though when passport control was much faster and I only had to show up half an hour early for the train.

agent3272• 3 years ago

From most of the London airports you can get to central London in about an hour. Add another two hours to be early at the airport. Travel time to the airport (Schiphol) for me is 15 minutes, so totale 4h 15m.

But wait! The train also requires you to be there an hour early (Eurostar actually recommends to be there 90 minutes early), and travel time to Amsterdam is 35 minutes, so the train journey now stands at 6h 35m.

What aspect of the train makes it far more pleasant? Because I don't think I agree with that, not on this particular trip.

timvanoostrom• 3 years ago

I believe one of the culprits in the decision making was the absence of an escalator further down the platform. It makes sense, passengers dragging their travel luggage via stairs up to the platform is sub optimal…

sys_64738• 3 years ago

Is this due to Boris threatening to raid the Dutch for COVID vaccines a few years back?

Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

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