Eurostar Finally Launching Direct Trains From London To Amsterdam With £40 Fares

The Eurostar is set to resume the launch of direct trains between London and Amsterdam from October, despite current coronavirus travel restrictions.

A direct route from London St Pancras to Amsterdam Centraal was meant to launch in April - with security checks in Belgium for returning passengers - but was delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.

The high-speed rail service between the two cities was originally launched in 2018, but until now passengers couldn't return without changing in Brussels to visit passport control, and have a security screening, which made an hour's difference to the return journey time.

Now the new launch date for the completely direct service has been announced as October 26th, meaning we'll soon be able to get to and from the Dutch capital in under four hours.

Tickets will cost just £40 each way and will be on sale from 1st September, booking up until February 2021.

When the train is up and running again, travellers will also be able to go from Rotterdam to London in just under three-and-a-half hours, too.

But you'd better be quick if you want to bag a ticket to either destination, as Eurostar said just two trains a day will operate initially, with the view to increasing the services next year.

In order for the direct service to work, UK Border Force officials will now be positioned in Amsterdam and Rotterdam to check people's passports in advance.

The news is undoubtedly exciting, but it unfortunately comes as the UK recently removed the Netherlands from its list of countries people can visit without quarantine.

This means people should refrain from visiting the Netherlands except for essential travel at the moment, and those who still go will have to isolate for two weeks upon their return home.

Let's just hope that things are different by the end of October!

Like all means of transport, the Eurostar has had to adapt to new Covid-19 health and safety measures.

Trains are now deep cleaned before every journey and a new seat map system has been put in place, to ensure passengers are kept at a social distance from each other.

Plus, Eurostar has said it will offer more flexible booking options to allow for complications caused by the pandemic.

As a result of this, they'll accept changes to any booking for free up to 14 days before departure.