Eurostar warns of extended delays on Belgium–Netherlands services after Rotterdam track fire

Eurostar passengers travelling between Brussels, Amsterdam and London faced a wave of cancellations and diversions on Saturday after a warehouse blaze near Rotterdam severely damaged overhead power lines on the Dutch network. The operator’s live travel-update portal shows that trains between France/Belgium and Amsterdam will bypass both Rotterdam Central and Schiphol Airport until at least 5 July, adding up to 60 minutes to journey times. Seat availability on the reduced timetable is described as “very limited”. In addition to the fire damage, Eurostar cited knock-on staffing challenges linked to this week’s extreme heat, which has forced rolling-stock rotations to slow for air-conditioning maintenance. The company is allowing ticket-holders to exchange or refund bookings free of charge and is advising corporate travel managers to avoid same-day rail meetings in the Netherlands until normal operations resume. Border-control bottlenecks are compounding the problem: trains that do reach Brussels-Midi are sometimes held at the platform because French customs officers must stamp passports for non-EU travellers being rerouted away from Rotterdam. On Saturday afternoon Eurostar posted multiple alerts for delays at Brussels-Midi and Paris Gare du Nord caused by “EU border-control procedures,” underscoring the fragile interface between the new Entry/Exit System (EES) and day-to-day rail operations. Logistics analysts warn that the disruption comes at the worst possible moment. Eurostar is carrying record volumes of passengers in July thanks to both leisure demand and a post-pandemic rebound in international conferences hosted in Brussels. Businesses that rely on just-in-time rail freight for high-value documents and small industrial parts are being urged to switch temporarily to courier vans via the E40 motorway. Eurostar says a full engineering assessment of the Rotterdam corridor is under way; partial normal service is pencilled in for Monday evening, but that timeline remains tentative.