Trains will run twice daily from 4 April, with the journey from St Pancras to Amsterdam taking three hours and 41 minutes.

But for an initial period, the Eurostar service will only run direct one-way, from London to the Dutch city.

Passengers travelling from Amsterdam to London will have to change at Brussels to clear passport controls.

Eurostar says the connection at Brussels is a temporary measure until the British and Dutch governments reach an agreement to allow passport checks to be conducted on departure in the Netherlands. It says this should be in place by the end of 2019.

'Historic milestone'

The rail company will be running two services a day, departing at 08:31 and 17:31 respectively, with one-way fares starting at £35.

Eurostar also says the new service will cut the journey time between London and Brussels by 17 minutes to one hour and 48 minutes.

"The launch of the London to Amsterdam service marks a historic milestone in the expansion of international high-speed rail travel, revolutionising the connection between these important destinations," the company said.

It says more than four million passengers travel between London and Amsterdam by air each year and therefore the market is the same size as it was when the London-Paris services launched in 1994.

It points out that since then, the market for travel between London and Paris has more than doubled.

BBC

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