International connections

There is a growing focus in society on sustainability and the desire to travel internationally by train. Our ambition is to make the international train service the logical and sustainable travel option for journeys of up to 700 kilometres. Up to that distance, a large number of European cities can easily be reached in a sustainable way by train. 

Continued growth in international travel

International train travel remains popular, with NS selling 10% more train tickets in 2024 than in 2023. More and more people are travelling sustainably. The result: increasing crowding on our trains. We like to keep our passengers informed as much as possible with clear and up-to-date travel information, including during their journey. That is why, in 2024, we improved travel information for situations where the train journey goes differently than expected. When a booked train is cancelled or delayed, passengers who bought their tickets through us will receive an email providing targeted information and explaining what to do. We also optimised our website for faster access to up-to-date travel information, which is now presented more clearly. On top of this, we added a new functionality to the NS International app, providing passengers with the latest travel information before and during their journey through push notifications. 

Requests for refunds in the event of delays can now be processed faster due to the introduction of automatic payments. Tickets booked through www.nsinternational.com can now also be changed online free of charge.

International train services to the United Kingdom, Belgium and France

The Eurostar provides train connections to and from Paris and London. In June 2024, the Eurostar terminal to London closed. This space was needed for the refurbishment of Amsterdam Central. From that time onward, secure Eurostar departures from Amsterdam to London were no longer possible. However, it was still possible to travel to the UK from the Netherlands, with transfer and check-in and border controls at Brussels South station. For passengers travelling from London to Amsterdam, three direct connections remained. 

In 2024, NS Stations worked on a new, larger terminal for secure departures. This terminal will be located in the former Amstelpassage and will eventually accommodate 650 passengers. The old terminal had a capacity of 250. In late October, Eurostar announced it would resume direct train services from Amsterdam to London on opening the new terminal on 10 February 2025. 

The Eurostar’s service quality is negatively affected by the state of the HSL in the Netherlands. Since the end of January 2024, speed limits have been in place at several places on the HSL due to construction defects in bridges and viaducts. These speed limits affect passengers on the Eurostar and IC Brussels, as they increase travel time. It is not clear how long these limits will last. 

International train services to Brussels 

In October, we announced that IC Brussels would have different names, routes, journey times and fares from 15 December. Together with SNCB, we run trains 32 times a day between the Netherlands and Belgium. The Eurocity Direct runs from Amsterdam South via Schiphol, Rotterdam and Antwerp to Brussels South in both directions in around two hours. The EuroCity runs from Rotterdam via Breda to Brussels South, stopping at all intermediate stations where the IC Brussels also stopped. Travel time from Rotterdam to Brussels South by the EuroCity is 45 minutes shorter and is just over two hours. Fares are determined by time of booking, time of travel, required degree of flexibility and choice of train. From early to mid-2025, the Eurocity Direct will be run with ICNG-B trains and Traxx/ICR trains. 

We are continuing to recruit new staff for the doubling of the frequency. In doing so, we are committed to a mix of internal advancement and new staff.

International train services to Germany

With the ICE International and IC Berlin, we connect the Netherlands to major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Frankfurt, Hannover and Berlin. Large-scale railway works started throughout Germany in 2023, with extensive works also taking place in the coming years. In many cases, these works mean longer journey times and multiple transfers. Construction of the third track between Zevenaar and Oberhausen started in early November. The work will stop or reduce international train services on this route for a period of 80 weeks, forcing our trains to make detours. Routes will therefore change and we will not stop in major cities in North Rhine-Westphalia (Oberhausen, Duisburg and Düsseldorf). Journey times will also increase. 

New ICE trains 

New trains were delivered for the ICE connection between the Netherlands and Frankfurt in June 2024. These trains are owned by DB and built by Siemens. The arrival of the new rolling stock immediately led to improved performance on this route. The new trains offer increased passenger and employee comfort and passengers can reserve a space for their bikes. 

To ensure that all passengers have a comfortable journey even during busy periods, we introduced compulsory seat reservations on the ICE International, IC Berlin and in the seating area of the night train to Zurich during the summer period.

From December 2024, the daily direct train to Basel has been replaced by a daily train to Munich in both directions. Travel time to Munich is seven hours if no detours are made due to works in Germany. Basel remains directly accessible seven days a week by overnight train to Zurich.

Night trains

Together with its partner ÖBB, NS operates two NightJet night trains: via Germany to Innsbruck/Vienna and via Germany to Zurich. The operational performance of night trains came under pressure in 2024 due to large-scale trackworks in Germany and rolling stock approaching the end of its service life. 

Regional cross-border transport

In 2024, NS worked with carriers SNCB and Arriva to create the Liège-Maastricht-Aachen three-countries connection. This through train runs from Liège via Maastricht to Aachen since mid-2024. This creates a linked service from the main rail network concession (Maastricht – Liège) to a regional concession (Maastricht – Aachen). Passengers can now travel between Germany (Aachen), the Netherlands (Maastricht) and Belgium (Liège) without changing trains. 

Collaboration 

In cross-border train services, NS International works with SNCB, Deutsche Bahn (DB), ÖBB, SBB and Eurostar, connecting the Netherlands with major cities and regions in Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.