Eurostar to end summer service between the Netherlands and Belgium to south of France
Operator chooses to focus on core cities but will still run winter Alpine service
Pre-pandemic figures show services were almost fully booked
Sergii Figurnyi/Shutterstock
Eurostar will not run its summer service between The Netherlands and Belgium to the south of France this year, the rail operator has revealed.
The ‘Eurostar Sun’ has previously operated in the summer months, seeing direct trains depart from Amsterdam and Brussels to the south of France, stopping at Valence, Avignon, Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.
It ran each Saturday for seven weeks during the summer.
However, the Eurostar Group has opted to scrap the service for 2025, deciding instead to focus on routes between its core cities of London, Paris, Lille, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Cologne, The Brussels Times reports.
This is despite the pre-pandemic ‘Eurostar Sun’ trains selling more than 90% of tickets according to some news outlets.
Passengers departing from Brussels can still take a direct high-speed TGV ‘InOui’ train to the south of France operated by the French rail operator SNCF.
Travellers from the Netherlands can travel to Brussels or Paris before taking an onward service to the south of France.
Other services to continue
The ‘Eurostar Snow’ service that runs trains between Paris and Alpine destinations in the winter is still set to continue despite the cancellation of its summer counterpart.
Read more: Eurostar to relaunch London to Alps winter ski trains
In addition, the Eurostar recently relaunched its ‘Snap’ service that sees passengers able to purchase tickets at up to 50% off, however they can only book a slot for the date of travel and not a specific train.
They are given the exact time of the train they must take at least two days before departure.
Read more: Eurostar relaunches website that gives up to 50% off tickets
