Soon Dutch travellers bound for London on Eurostar will no longer have to change trains in Brussels, the Franco-British railway service announced on Tuesday.

Passport and security checks will be made before the trains leave the Netherlands, Eurostar explained.

The Eurostar connection between London and the Netherland has been in existence since the spring of 2018, taking travellers from the British capital to Rotterdam in about three hours and to Amsterdam in roughly four.

Travel in the opposite direction, to Britain, takes much more time since travellers need to get off the train at the Bruxelles-Midi station for identity and security checks, before changing trains.

This will soon be a thing of the past. From 30 April, travellers will already have been checked in Amsterdam and will be able to remain in the same Eurostar train until London. For those travelling from Rotterdam, this will be the case from 18 May onward.

The required equipment has already been installed at the train stations and an agreement has been concluded between the countries concerned to facilitate the controls.

However, Eurostar will still stop at Bruxelles-Midi to allow travellers to embark and disembark.

Oscar Schneider

The Brussels Times