The Dutch railway operator NS and Eurostar want to increase the number of high-speed trains on the Amsterdam-London route, the director of NS International Heike Luiten told Dutch media on Tuesday.
Currently, there are three high-speed trains running between Amsterdam and London each day. In 2020, the two companies want to increase this number to four and, by 2021, have five high-speed trains departing from the Dutch capital to the UK each day, a statement by the Dutch rail operator explains.
"London is a huge growth market for us," Luiten explained, adding that the NS believes these additional routes will be popular due to the recent increase in environmental objections towards short-distance flights, also called "flight shame".
"The environmental burden of flights up to 500 kilometres is relatively high. A train passenger travelling to London emits 80% less than a passenger flying," Luiten told Het Financieele Dagblad.
The direct high-speed train connection between Amsterdam and London was only established in 2018. It started off initially with only two trains running per day, with an additional third added during the summer of 2019, explains De Standaard.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
