“Could the Netherlands be temporarily cut off from one of the most essential rail links in Europe?” Gwendoline Cazenave asked in an editorial for Dutch business daily Het Financieele Dagblad on Wednesday.

The Dutch network was suffering “reliability problems, capacity restrictions and delays that are particularly inconvenient for passengers”, she argued.

The company could cut both its Amsterdam-Rotterdam-London and Amsterdam-Rotterdam-Paris routes in 2025, Cazanave’s editorial said.

With Amsterdam’s main station undergoing extensive work since June the direct London route has temporarily closed.

Cazenave said that on various sections of track Eurostar trains had been forced to halve their speed to 80 kph since November.

Since the direct route to London was halted for a scheduled six months through to year’s end, passengers have had to disembark in Brussels for passport control before completing their journey.

The Amsterdam upgrade was meant to take six months, but Eurostar has deplored what it says is the lack of guarantees on a resumption date.

“Eurostar is fully prepared to reopen direct connections at the beginning of 2025, as planned,” said Cazenave.

But other work has also been announced from early 2025 in the station, which would limit the availability of platforms, she added. The London connection requires the station to also provide border control services, as since Brexit the lines crosses an EU external border. 

In 2023, Eurostar said it had carried a total 4.2 million passengers between the Netherlands and France, Britain and Belgium.

French national railway operator SNCF Voyageurs holds a majority stake in Eurostar.