Twice as many trains to Amsterdam from next year

There will be twice as many intercity trains running between Brussels and Amsterdam from the end of 2024, which should in part make up for the suspension of Eurostar’s service between the Belgian and Dutch capitals next year.

Instead of 16 trains running daily between Brussels and the Netherlands there will be 32, according to railway companies NS (Netherlands) and SNCB (Belgium).

The connection will also feature new, faster trains that run on the high-speed line back and forth between Amsterdam and Brussels-Midi, with stops at Antwerp Central in Belgium and Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

The journey between the two capitals will take about two hours with the new trains, making it 45 minutes faster than in the current timetable.

The aim is to provide an alternative to Thalys, which already runs high-speed trains between Brussels-Midi and Amsterdam Central.

The existing IC service from Brussels-Midi to the Netherlands, which is slower because it stops at more stations, will remain under the new timetable, but will be shortened to terminate at Rotterdam, not Amsterdam.

It will stop at Breda, Noorderkempen, Antwerp-Central, Antwerp-Berchem, Mechelen, Brussels Airport, Brussels-North and Brussels-Central.

This means that, in the new timetable, Brussels Airport and other smaller stops on the current train schedule will lose their direct connection to Amsterdam.

According to NS, the travel time with a change in Rotterdam will remain comparable to that of the current connection.

The exact timetable and ticket prices are yet to be worked out by NS and SNCB.