https://nos.nl/artikel/2477477-volgend-jaar-maandenlang-geen-eurostar-vanuit-amsterdam-naar-londen
AIUI the plan was for Amsterdam-Zuid (South) to be rebuilt to have a permanent base for Eurostar, then move Eurostar over to allow the Amsterdam Centraal rebuild to start. However the Zuid rebuild is overrunning and the Centraal rebuild needs to start to avoid delaying other service changes planned for NS.
AIUI from the explanation of the passport issues, Amsterdam and Rotterdam sell all the available tickets but the limited size of the departure lounges mean they restricted how many the sell. However Eurostar have explicitly said they'd like to add an extra train per day to Amsterdam in the near term, and in the medium term even drop the Brussels stops out of the Netherlands services.
According to the letter of state secretary Ms. Heijnen (responsible for public transport at the ministry for infrastructure and water management) to the parliament, they managed to extend the use of the current terminal to June 2024 already. Further extension was not possible for safety reasons, as at July 1st platforms 14 and 15 at Amsterdam Central are taken out of service due to works to replace the bridge crossing the Oostertoegang canal located immediately behind the terminal. (See Google Streetview with the respective bridge on the left and the terminal on the right)
For clarity (I'm not very familiar with Amsterdam), is the Amstelpassage terminal still at Centraal, and would this be a permanent terminal to complement Zuid in some way?
Yes
Doubt it.
Yes, the Amstelpassage is one of the two tunnels constructed underneath the platforms several years ago to allow pedestrians to pass through the station without having to use an OV-chipkaart to pass trough the ticket barriers. It currently has already closed due to renovation works in the eastern wing of the station building and would be less needed for capacity in the future as the easternmost passage under the platforms is currently also being widened.
Thanks (and to @30907).
This would require 2 sides of an island, if you're expecting everybody to essentially board a waiting train until the Eurostar is ready for departure.
By far the easier option for passengers is to sell them tickets using a Thalys train from Amsterdam to Brussels and advise passengers to board Eurostar there. I can't see Rotterdam staying viable if the Eurostar isn't able to continue to Amsterdam with passengers on board.
Quite possible - IIRC that's what they did before the Amsterdam terminal was ready, carrying London-Amsterdam passengers through but sending Amsterdam-London passengers on a Thalys to Brussels. It depends on the platform capacity at Centraal, as the departure terminal isn't the only problem when they're rebuilding the station, they'll be taking tracks out of use as well.
Looking at the track maps of Amsterdam Central and surrounding yards, part of the challenge is in the replacement of the bridges east of the station. In the period the Amsterdam terminal is unavailable bridge 3 on this map (right hand side in tracks 74 and 75 is being replaced. Following those tracks towards Watergraafsmeer yard (Wgm at the map) it quickly becomes clear that a Eurostar can't get from the international cleaning platforms (C3, C4, C5 and C6) to Amsterdam Central during that period.
Seems like a lot of hassle when it could just run ECS back to Brussels instead and form a service from there.
Hasn’t stopped them at St Pancras!
They may be branded as such but the two operations are still fairly separate as the merger takes effect. The PBA/PBKA stock doesn't go to London (I'm fairly sure it isn't certified in the Tunnel) and the 373/374 fleet doesn't run intra-schengen services (for the moment, it could change).
St Pancras has a problem handling the busiest peak loading but is OK for the majority of the day. Eurostar restrict ticket sales at peak times to manage the St Pancras loadings. Amsterdam physically can't hold more than a couple of hundred, much less than the capacity of the 374 (c.900), at any time of day.
Need not be ECS; before the passports/security facilities were commissioned at Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal, Eurostar used to run in revenue service from Amsterdam Centraal to Brussel Zuid, arriving in platform 1 or 2 where everyone was turfed out. The train would then form a Bruxelles-Midi to London service around 45 minutes later. The quick and the confident could book separate tickets for the two legs and run around to go through formalities and re-board the same train!
It has, actually. Morning departures from St. Pancras are limited to around 600 passengers.
Could you quickily clarify what you mean by this?
Yes, departing from Amsterdam the front half of the train is not security swept and kept locked. The rear part is security swept and stops along the platform half that's also cleared by security and only accessible for checked-in Eurostar passengers.
Intra-Schengen tickets are no longer sold to allow for a shorter stop in Brussels. But the trains still need to be the right way round in Brussels to ensure passengers from the Brussels terminal can enter the empty part of the train.
For what it’s worth, I was on an Amsterdam to London Eurostar a few weeks ago. At Amsterdam CS, the “secure area” is delineated by a movable barrier on the platform that’s put into place once all passengers are in the departure lounge; this barrier is half way long the train, so only the back carriages are in the secure area, while the front carriages are locked out of use. The same back carriages are boarded at Rotterdam (where the barrier between the secure and non-secure areas is a permanent glass wall). Presumably the front carriages are used for Brussels-London passengers.
As mentioned up-thread, they run empty.
