Eurostar "not confident" it can prevent suspension of Amsterdam-London train

Eurostar is far from certain that it can prevent the closure of the Amsterdam-London route next year due to renovations at Amsterdam Central Station. “We’re optimistic. We’re not confident,” Eurostar CCO Francois Le Doze told City A.M. at a conference in London.

The direct train connection between Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and London is slated to be taken out of service for 11 months starting next June. This is due to a planned, extensive renovation of Amsterdam Central Station. Due to the renovation, there will not be any space for the hall where the Koninklijke Marechaussee now carries out passport control checks, which became necessary following the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union. Work is still being done on a temporary terminal in the Amstelpassage under the station, but it will only be ready in May 2025 at the earliest.

Eurostar has been in talks with Dutch Ministers, ProRail, and other involved figures for months to find a way to keep the route open or at least reduce the time it is suspended. According to Le Doze, there is a workable solution to keep the route running. “So if common sense wins, then we don’t have a gap,” he told City A.M. He did not elaborate on what that solution was.

Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave also told City A.M. there are ways “to organize the work so that there’s no gap between the close of the current terminal and the opening of the next one.” She said that Eurostar and the stakeholders in Amsterdam were still working on the issue and “looking for a compromise.” She said there should be a decision on “how we’re going to deal with this” by the end of October.

The Dutch rail manager ProRail has been a lot less optimistic about finding a way to keep the line open, saying there was simply no safe way to do so.