Amsterdam to London Eurostar - LIVE: What it's like onboard the first direct Netherlands-UK train service
Passengers no longer have to change at Brussels
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Your support makes all the difference.After launching its first direct London-Amsterdam service in 2018, Eurostar is finally ready to offer a direct return train from the Dutch capital back to the UK.
The initial roll-out was pushed back several times due to red tape at the border – passengers were previously required to board a Thalys train on the return journey and change at Brussels to go through passport control.
Today marks the first preview train, which is expected to take 4hr and 9m, arriving at London St Pancras at 11.57am after departing Amsterdam at 7.48am (local time) – and The Independent has bagged a seat onboard.
Eurostar has said direct tickets between the two cities will go on sale on 11 February, with the first Amsterdam-London services starting on 30 April, and the Rotterdam-London train launching on 18 May.
Follow all the latest from the inaugural train service below.
Could Eurostar really take on the aviation industry for London-Amsterdam routes (and vice versa)?
CEO Mike Cooper seems to think so.
"It's a huge market, 4.3 million air market at the moment," he tells us. "What's interesting is that there's a precise parallel to when we started Paris back in 1994, it was the same size air market, and look what's developed since.
"We think it's going to be a hugely credible alternative to flying and a sustainable alternative to flying as well."
Since the launch of the London-Amsterdam service and a few other key routes, the Netherlands has seen an uptick in people travelling by rail.
According to new figures from Dutch railway company NS, it sold 13 per cent more tickets for international trains in December 2019 year-on-year, totalling four million passengers, reports Dutch News.
Is it a coincidence that it happened after a year in which the flygskam, or flight shame, movement swept across Europe? Only time will tell.
Bye Brussels... We're off and away, travelling direct to our final stop: London St Pancras.
We're due to arrive in London at 10.58am - a whole minute later than anticipated. Outrageous!
Eurostar has released its timetable for the first two daily Amsterdam-London trains. The first will depart at 7.48am and arrive at 10.57am, the second will depart at 6.48pm and arrive at 9.57pm. Both services will run Monday to Friday; on Saturdays just the morning train will run, and on Sundays only the evening service will run.
Plans are afoot to expand to three daily trains and, eventually, to launch a fourth.
We've just been given a cheese plate. And some champagne. Well, it is at least five minutes since I last ate.
We're just outside Lille now - when the standard Amsterdam-London service starts up, it will stop here. But today we're passing straight through without stopping.
We're currently enjoying a keynote speech on sustainability and responsible travel given by an expert - encouraging us to think more about how we travel and whether we need to fly. Am feeling pretty smug about my decision to go flight-free this year as part of The Independent's 20 Pledges for 2020 campaign:
The lovely sustainability expert just warned us off eating dairy as I was shoving a giant wedge of camembert in my mouth from the cheese plate. Oh, the shame.
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