JOURNEYS on the Eurostar between two European capitals will soon take an extra hour to complete.
Passport checks are due to move stations due to an £850m renovation project that is going to cause issues on the line.
GettyThe service between Amsterdam and London will have to stop at Brussels[/caption]
Currently the journey from Amsterdam to London takes around three hours 52 minutes to complete, but that is set to go up to four hours 45 minutes.
The terminal in Amsterdam is set to close in June this year for an extensive refurbishment.
As a result, passport checks will not be able to take place at the Dutch capital.
Instead, the service will have to stop at Brussels, where checks will be completed, adding the extra time onto the journey.
However, passengers will no longer have to arrive in Amsterdam an hour before their train is due to leave, as they are now expected to, saving them time elsewhere on their journey.
The number of trains to Brussels from Amsterdam is also being increased to eight per day.
For passengers heading the other direction, nothing will change, with staff in London still able to perform the necessary document checks.
Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave told AD: “We will then move the checks to our terminal in Brussels. That costs passengers about 45 minutes extra.
“Travellers no longer have to arrive extra early at Amsterdam Central Station due to the cancellation of passport controls. That saves time.
“Eurostar will also run more trains between Amsterdam and Brussels. That will be eight per day, which will add 1,800 seats.”
The extra time will be a small price to pay for some passengers who thought that the service was going to be suspended completely while the work was taking place.
The service between Amsterdam and London was due to be cancelled completely from June this year until May 2025.
But with this change, passengers will now be able to travel between the two cities via Brussels, albeit on only three journeys instead of the four currently available.
It’s not the only good news for Eurostar passengers, with trains also set to resume from Kent, according to the Standard.
A petition launched in March last year has since gathered more than 46,000 signatures, prompting the service to reconsider its options.
The services from Ashford International Station were closed at the start of the pandemic and have not been relaunched since.
However, they could be set to resume from next year.
Meanwhile, one of the best train journeys in the world can be found in the UK.
And this new rail service will link holiday hotspots throughout Europe from this year.
PA:Press AssociationThe stop will add an extra hour on to the journey between the two cities[/caption]