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Dutch high speed link hits buffers
Hopes of a direct London-Amsterdam train service have hit the buffers after the Dutch said plans to open of a new section of railway for high speed travel will be put on hold.
Thalys trains between Amsterdam and Paris were to start using a new dedicated track between Amsterdam and Rotterdam from December at speeds of up to 160kmh. Now Dutch transport minister Camiel Eurlings has dubbed the plan "dangerous" and ruled out a fixed date for the high-speed link.
Thalys' high speed trains between Amsterdam and Paris currently use regular tracks from Brussels and Amsterdam and run at the same speed as regular international trains. Eurostar wants to run a direct London-Amsterdam service and planned for technical issues to be resolved by 2012. That date now looks certain to slip. Earlier this year Belgium opened a 3.8km tunnel under Antwerp removing another bottleneck for Eurostar trains.
This article was written for TravelSavvy Europe by Amy Armitage. If you know of an interesting European travel related news story, please get in contact.
