Belgium’s national rail operator SNCB will introduce a new high-speed rail link between Brussels and Amsterdam from 15 December 2024.
The new ‘Eurocity Direct’ cross-border connection will be in addition to an existing rail link between the two cities, currently operated by SNCB’s InterCity train, and will reduce travel time by 45 minutes. Eurostar also operates a high-speed link between Amsterdam-Centraal and Brussels-Midi.
The new service will operate 16 return journeys per day, departing from Brussels-South and calling at Antwerp-Central, Rotterdam-Centraal and Schiphol before arriving at Amsterdam-Zuid. Total journey time is two hours and seven minutes.
SNCB said the existing InterCity connection will be rebranded as ‘EuroCity’ and, from December, will terminate at Rotterdam-Centraal after stopping at Brussels-Central, Brussels-North, Brussels Airport-Zaventem, Mechelen, Antwerp-Berchem, Antwerp-Central, Noorderkempen and Breda.