Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave has warned that the company may cease running its trains on the Dutch network in 2025 unless it receives assurances about the reopening of the international terminal in Amsterdam and access to the local railway network, which is undergoing extensive construction work.
In an opinion piece published on Wednesday in the Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad, Cazenave posed the question: "Could the Netherlands be temporarily cut off from one of Europe’s most essential rail links?"
The deterioration of the rail network "is now leading to reliability problems, capacity restrictions and particularly inconvenient delays for passengers," she explained.
Eurostar (formerly Thalys) trains have been forced to run at 80 km/h instead of 160 km/h since November 2023 across several sections, specified Cazenave.
She also expressed concern about the lack of guarantees regarding the reopening of the international terminal at Amsterdam Centraal station. The terminal had to close in June due to building renovations, forcing Eurostar to cancel its direct connection to London.
Passengers now have to disembark in Brussels for border control before boarding a train to the UK capital. The renovation work was were initially scheduled to last six months.
"Eurostar is fully prepared to reopen direct services in early 2025, as planned," said Cazenave. Still, she lamented the absence of guarantees regarding the actual reopening of the infrastructure by the scheduled date.
Further construction work is also planned to start in spring 2025 at the station, which "would limit the availability of platforms."
"Without clarity on behalf of the Dutch railway network (…), Eurostar will be forced to suspend services between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, on the one hand, and London and Paris, on the other, during the course of 2025," Cazenave warned.
