It is a small new feature awaiting Eurostar passengers between England and Belgium from 14 December. Indeed, as of the next winter timetable, they will have the option of direct services between London St Pancras International station and Antwerp-Centraal. The journey time between the two cities will be 2 hours 40 minutes, compared with around 3 hours 30 minutes currently, which includes a change at Brussels-Midi station to complete the journey on an SNCB train or a continental Eurostar (formerly Thalys).
However, this new stop on the four-times-daily London-Amsterdam service will only be served in that direction, as the lack of security and customs check infrastructure does not allow passengers to board at Antwerp station. To travel to London by Eurostar, passengers will therefore still have to go to Brussels-Midi station to board after passing customs and security checks.
Aiming for 30 million passengers during the 2030s
This new stop in Antwerp is part of Eurostar's strategy to increase its traffic, which last year exceeded 20 million passengers, some 500,000 more than the previous year. The ambition is to raise this volume to 30 million travellers after 2030, when the SNCF subsidiary receives its new high-speed trains starting in the spring of 2031. For an amount of €2bn, Eurostar has indeed placed an order for an initial tranche of 30 next-generation high-speed trains from Alstom, out of a hoped-for total of 50 trainsets. With a higher capacity, these trainsets will be double-decked for the first time, derived from the Avelia Horizon, the famous TGV M which is due to enter service with SNCF at the start of the autumn term. This will enable Eurostar to open routes from London to Geneva, Cologne, Frankfurt... Not forgetting an Amsterdam-Brussels-Geneva route.
