Eurostar have confirmed that their new service from London’s St Pancras International to Amsterdam Centraal will start on Wednesday 4th April. Tickets will go on sale from 20 February, priced from £35 one way.

The service, using Eurostar’s fleet of Siemens built e320 trains, will consist of two daily London-Amsterdam services (calling at Rotterdam) departing the capital at 08.31 and 17.31. Journey times will be 3hr41 (London-Amsterdam) and 3hr01 (London- Rotterdam), this will result in a record London to Brussels journey time of 1hr48 – a saving of 17 minutes

Direct  Amsterdam – London services won’t start until 2019,  Eurostar explained this was “a temporary measure whilst the governments in the UK and The Netherlands complete an agreement which will enable passport checks to be conducted on departure in The Netherlands as in other key Eurostar destinations. The governments have committed to putting this agreement in place by the end of 2019 so that Eurostar travellers can then enjoy a direct service in both directions”

In the meantime, passengers will catch Thalys services from Amsterdam to Brussels  where passport controls and security screening will be carried out before boarding a Eurostar to London. The company’s published a list of suggested Thalys services with connections for London

I’ll look forward to being able to catch one of these trains from London to Amsterdam soon!