Eurostar is planning on a new train route departing from Amsterdam to Geneva via Brussels. The plan is for these routes to become available in the beginning of the next decade. The company also announced plans to launch two new direct train connections between London, Frankfurt, and Geneva.
The train route from Amsterdam to Geneva is expected to take around five hours to complete, with Eurostar expecting to run multiple daily services on the route. Eurostar also announced that they will raise the number of trains departing for London from the Netherlands to four day, compared to three a day, which is the current rate.
As part of the plan, Eurostar wants to invest around two billion euros in expanding their train fleet by around 30 percent. Eurostar is currently active in five countries: the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Germany. The most popular route that the company has is between London and Paris, with over 280,000 passengers taking these trains a year.
The plans come as other companies look to compete with Eurostar. Virgin Group, owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, and the national railway company of Italy, FS Italiane Group, are vying to offer services between London and Paris.
Eurostar also released its annual results for 2024. A total of 19.5 million people used their company’s trains, a rise of 5 percent compared to 2023. The turnover grew by 2 percent to two billion euros.
There are currently 51 trains in Eurostar’s fleet. This number will rise to 67 after the company completes its investment.