{"id":30608,"date":"2026-07-28T10:49:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/30608\/"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T10:49:10","slug":"eurostars-new-direct-london-to-belgium-route-to-launch-this-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/30608\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurostar\u2019s new direct London to Belgium route to launch this December"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eurostar has announced the launch of a new direct route between the UK and Belgium<\/a> from December.<\/p>\n

From 14 December, rail travellers will be able to book direct journeys from London<\/a> St Pancras to Antwerp<\/a>-Centraal.<\/p>\n

Up to four trains a day, that already run between London and Amsterdam, will introduce the direct connection with existing stops at Lille-Europe, Brussels-Midi, Rotterdam-Centraal and Amsterdam-Centraal.<\/p>\n

However, the route will only be direct on the outward leg from London.<\/p>\n

According to Eurostar<\/a>, there are no current plans to introduce a direct return service from Antwerp to London as “this would require dedicated UK border and customs facilities at Antwerp-Centraal”.<\/p>\n

Customers can instead book a combined SNCB and Eurostar ticket through the Channel Tunnel operator connecting via Brussels-Midi, where UK border and security checks take place.<\/p>\n

Eurostar said: “Adding Antwerp as a direct stop on our London\u2013Amsterdam services will make journeys to the city quicker and more convenient, providing customers with a more comfortable city centre to city centre travel experience.”<\/p>\n

The international high-speed train service is also preparing for unprecedented heat across Europe<\/a> with a new fleet of trains<\/a> designed to withstand temperatures of up to 55C.<\/p>\n

Following intense heatwaves, including a record-breaking high of 37.7C in the UK<\/a> in June, Eurostar has said it will upgrade its new fleet with air conditioning<\/a> capable of operating at 55C.<\/p>\n

The Channel Tunnel rail operator upgraded its order with French manufacturer Alstom<\/a> earlier this month to “be prepared for the future”.<\/p>\n

Last year, Eurostar<\/a> announced a \u20ac2 billion (\u00a31.7 billion) investment in up to 50 new double-decker all-electric Celestia trains.<\/p>\n

It said: “We’ve confirmed an order for 30 trains, with an option for a further 20, marking a significant step in our growth journey to 30 million annual passengers.”<\/p>\n

Read more: <\/a>I took a sleeper train to Hamburg and discovered the most exciting way to travel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eurostar has announced the launch of a new direct route between the UK and Belgium from December. From…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":30609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,7,16732,16733,4049,1291],"class_list":["post-30608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-belgium","tag-antwerp","tag-belgium","tag-direct-connection","tag-direct-route","tag-eurostar","tag-london"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116997217622967976","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}