No Eurostar to Amsterdam for almost a year

[Bemined]

While the number of platforms is indeed not very high, it should be noted that after the reconstruction the platforms 4, 5, 7, 8, 11 and 13 will be around 650m long, allowing those platforms to be used for terminating trains from either side. So effectively it will get 3 through platforms and 13 terminating platforms as most through trains will be routed over platforms 2, 10 and 14 only.

 

[rvdborgt]

They've now decided: Eurostar to London won't leave from the Netherlands for 6 months.

No direct Amsterdam to London Eurostar trains for 6 months; Stop in Brussels instead

Direct trains between Amsterdam and London will temporarily stop for a six-month period while renovations continue at the central railway station in the Dutch capital. Train passengers will still be able to travel from Amsterdam to the British capital, but will have to clear passport control and...

nltimes.nl

 

[zwk500]

They've now decided: Eurostar to London won't leave from the Netherlands for 6 months.

No direct Amsterdam to London Eurostar trains for 6 months; Stop in Brussels instead

Direct trains between Amsterdam and London will temporarily stop for a six-month period while renovations continue at the central railway station in the Dutch capital. Train passengers will still be able to travel from Amsterdam to the British capital, but will have to clear passport control and...

nltimes.nl

Not as bad as it could have been, but still far from ideal.

 

[43102EMR]

They've now decided: Eurostar to London won't leave from the Netherlands for 6 months.

No direct Amsterdam to London Eurostar trains for 6 months; Stop in Brussels instead

Direct trains between Amsterdam and London will temporarily stop for a six-month period while renovations continue at the central railway station in the Dutch capital. Train passengers will still be able to travel from Amsterdam to the British capital, but will have to clear passport control and...

nltimes.nl

It will - passengers just have to disembark at Brussels for passport control and reboard. It’s no different to how the service started pre-2020.

 

[AdamWW]

It will - passengers just have to disembark at Brussels for passport control and reboard. It’s no different to how the service started pre-2020.

Is that right?

I thought that passengers caught a Thalys service and changed at Brussels, with the Eurostars running empty from Amsterdam to Brussels.
And that's what this article seems to be saying will happen as it mentions changing platforms.
Presumably this is more efficient as you don't have to get everyone off and security sweep the train before letting them on again.

Then again the article says that outgoing passport control was a post-Brexit requirement, so...

 

[43102EMR]

Is that right?

I thought that passengers caught a Thalys service and changed at Brussels, with the Eurostars running empty from Amsterdam to Brussels.
And that's what this article seems to be saying will happen as it mentions changing platforms.
Presumably this is more efficient as you don't have to get everyone off and security sweep the train before letting them on again.

Then again the article says that outgoing passport control was a post-Brexit requirement, so...

See the tweet made by Seat61, which is stating what I mentioned above: https://x.com/seatsixtyone/status/1728064836490178855?s=46

It’ll be the same as what happened pre-2020 - the London-bound Eurostar goes as far as Brussels with a half-hour dwell time. Passengers then alight at Brussels to go through customs then reboard the Eurostar bound for London, hence why it isn’t technically direct as you still have to get off at Brussels, albeit reboarding the same train for the final leg to London once checks are done.

 

[AdamWW]

See the tweet made by Seat61, which is stating what I mentioned above: https://x.com/seatsixtyone/status/1728064836490178855?s=46

It’ll be the same as what happened pre-2020 - the London-bound Eurostar goes as far as Brussels with a half-hour dwell time. Passengers then alight at Brussels to go through customs then reboard the Eurostar bound for London, hence why it isn’t technically direct as you still have to get off at Brussels, albeit reboarding the same train for the final leg to London once checks are done.

I stand corrected.

I thought I'd read at the time that pre 2020 you had to change trains in the London bound direction.

I'm impressed that they can get everyone off the train, security sweep both platform and train and get all the passengers through security and two sets of passport control then back on the train in half an hour.

 

[Bemined]

In the 2019 timetable the Eurostar trains were listed just as Amsterdam > Brussels, in the Amsterdam > London timetable they listed a trip with the Thalys to Brussels followed by a 44 minuten change to a Eurostar that started there.

 

[island]

I did the Eurostar Amsterdam-Brussels and Brussels-London in 2019, it was not sold as a through connection and split ticketing was necessary.

 

[SocietyForFer]

I think it would be advantageous if they built a special immigration transfer facility at Calais that is specifically meant for trains coming from across Europe, where passengers can do a cross platform transfer to a London bound Eurostar train after going through immigration and customs on the platform itself.

This would allow so many destinations across Europe. If they got the idea of through-luggage off the ground as well then you'd be able to get more passengers through.

 

[philg999]

I think it would be advantageous if they built a special immigration transfer facility at Calais that is specifically meant for trains coming from across Europe, where passengers can do a cross platform transfer to a London bound Eurostar train after going through immigration and customs on the platform itself.

This would allow so many destinations across Europe. If they got the idea of through-luggage off the ground as well then you'd be able to get more passengers through.

From a connectivity perspective i think it would be best if massive full service Folkestone Checkpoint and Calais Checkpoint border stations were built either end of the tunnel, then you could detrain everyone in Folkestone for a 1h security/passports check when travelling to France, at Calais when travelling to the UK … and also have a short stop at the other end for transfers. Then run a hub and spoke type service from those places to domestic destinations. And do away with the existing checks at the end-point stations.

 

[43102EMR]

I stand corrected.

I thought I'd read at the time that pre 2020 you had to change trains in the London bound direction.

I'm impressed that they can get everyone off the train, security sweep both platform and train and get all the passengers through security and two sets of passport control then back on the train in half an hour.

It helps that the capacity at Amsterdam and Rotterdam are small (250 and 150 pax respectively, so under half of the e320 capacity) whilst it’s a lot larger at Brussels - once the works are done at Amsterdam CS, capacity is expected to increase to 650 pax with the new customs gate.

 

[SocietyForFer]

From a connectivity perspective i think it would be best if massive full service Folkestone Checkpoint and Calais Checkpoint border stations were built either end of the tunnel, then you could detrain everyone in Folkestone for a 1h security/passports check when travelling to France, at Calais when travelling to the UK … and also have a short stop at the other end for transfers. Then run a hub and spoke type service from those places to domestic destinations. And do away with the existing checks at the end-point stations.

I think it would be too excessive to force everyone to detrain for one hour.

London St Pancras and a select number of high demand stations in Europe should have pre-clearance facilities to allow for non-stop trains, whereas the rest should have to disembark at Calais for a quick 20 minute transfer cross-platform to another train. Anyone delayed can be allowed to get the next train.

 

[SynthD]

I think it would be advantageous if they built a special immigration transfer facility at Calais

Until TGV Picard* is built, isn’t that close to what exists at Lille?

*Calais to Paris not via Lille.

 

[SocietyForFer]

Until TGV Picard* is built, isn’t that close to what exists at Lille?

*Calais to Paris not via Lille.

I mean some sort of transfer facility that's more well desinged. A system where you don't have to leave the platform because its wide enough , just walk through the first set of booths/egates and second set on the same platform. A train waits for you on the other side for 20 minutes.

 

[30907]

I mean some sort of transfer facility that's more well desinged. A system where you don't have to leave the platform because its wide enough , just walk through the first set of booths/egates and second set on the same platform. A train waits for you on the other side for 20 minutes.

How many gates/scanners/staff do you need to check through a whole train in 20min?
How many trainloads would be involved per day - Amsterdam (probably the busiest after Paris) is 4x 0.5 but growing, so Frankfurt might be the same (ie 2 trains/day), but nowhere else would be significant.
That's massive expense for the amount on offer.

 

[SocietyForFer]

St Pancras has the capacity to deal with 1500 passengers an hour.

Eurostar 900 passengers per train.

It would take around 36 minutes to get a train through St Pancras security.

 

[popeter45]

if they hadnt converted most of arrivals to addition departures yet i wonder if a temporary derogation to allow disney style arrival checks could have been allowed for 1/2 trains per day?

 

[30907]

St Pancras has the capacity to deal with 1500 passengers an hour.

Eurostar 900 passengers per train.

It would take around 36 minutes to get a train through St Pancras security.

Thanks. So you would need a St Pancras-size set up at Calais to deal with half a trainload in 20min (edit: 15min, see #80).

 

[Trainbike46]

St Pancras has the capacity to deal with 1500 passengers an hour.

Eurostar 900 passengers per train.

It would take around 36 minutes to get a train through St Pancras security.

The capacity at St P is more than that - Eurostar has stated that they no longer cap sales per train below the train's actual capacity, suggesting that at St. P capacity is now at least 1800 pax ph, so would only take 30 minutes

 

[Struner]

Shouldn’t this thread be renamed “how could the capacity of the international terminal at st prancras be increased”? & moved to the section for speculations?

 

[kevin_roche]

Is that right?

I thought that passengers caught a Thalys service and changed at Brussels, with the Eurostars running empty from Amsterdam to Brussels.
And that's what this article seems to be saying will happen as it mentions changing platforms.
Presumably this is more efficient as you don't have to get everyone off and security sweep the train before letting them on again.

Then again the article says that outgoing passport control was a post-Brexit requirement, so...

That is what used to happen before when there was no UK immigration facility in Amsterdam. That is what i would expect especially now that Thalys and Eurostar are merging.

 

[Mainline421]

I did the Eurostar Amsterdam-Brussels and Brussels-London in 2019, it was not sold as a through connection and split ticketing was necessary.

Through ticketing has been available (and cheaper) since 2018

 

[Bemined]

But was that the fastest option? I remember vaguely that when they first started advertising the Eurostar in the Netherlands, the cheapest option actually included a regular intercity to Brussels rather than a fast Thalys service.

 

[Trainbike46]

Through ticketing has been available (and cheaper) since 2018

Through ticketing definitely already existed back in 2016 (and probably before that), both with the thalys service and with the intercity

 

[rvdborgt]

Through ticketing definitely already existed back in 2016 (and probably before that), both with the thalys service and with the intercity

Through ticketing with the intercity has been available for a few decades IIRC. Through ticketing with Thalys is more recent.

 

[Citybreak1]

What will the new ticket and waiting area be like to London? I never visited the Amsterdam one but despite being small seats looked good and usb ports ect. I assume Rotterdam will remain the same?

 

[Trainbike46]

What will the new ticket and waiting area be like to London? I never visited the Amsterdam one but despite being small seats looked good and usb ports ect. I assume Rotterdam will remain the same?

There is no change planned for the rotterdam eurostar section as I understand it.

In Amsterdam, the new eurostar area will be in a tunnel under the platforms, much bigger than the old one

 

[Citybreak1]

There is no change planned for the rotterdam eurostar section as I understand it.

In Amsterdam, the new eurostar area will be in a tunnel under the platforms, much bigger than the old one

So it sounds like Waterloo use to be? I wonder how it will compare to Zuid in 2036.

 

[rvdborgt]

So it sounds like Waterloo use to be? I wonder how it will compare to Zuid in 2036.

Don't count on anything in 2036. The whole project will just be delayed more.