The UK Foreign Office has issued a travel warning after a fire near Rotterdam Central station severely disrupted Eurostar services between London and Amsterdam. Passengers are advised to check with their travel operator before travelling, as trains will not stop at Rotterdam and journey times will be significantly longer.
Fire Causes Days of Disruption
The fire, which broke out on Monday of last week in a cable duct near Rotterdam Stadion, triggered a major power failure that brought rail traffic south of Rotterdam to a standstill. Numerous London-Amsterdam services were cancelled as a result. The outage knocked out signalling and switch systems between Rotterdam Centraal and destinations including Dordrecht and Breda, according to reports.
One affected passenger wrote online: "Completely messed up my travel plans, ended up getting the ferry." Another added: "We had to take the coach to Brussels. I hope we will get our refund."
FCDO Statement and Eurostar Advisory
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issued a statement on Monday, saying: "Eurostar services between the UK and the Netherlands are severely disrupted following a fire near Rotterdam Central station. Eurostar has advised that they expect trains to be disrupted until at least 6 July 2026. Travel times are expected to be significantly longer due to trains having to take alternative routes due to fire damage and trains between London and Amsterdam will not stop in Rotterdam."
Eurostar's own statement read: "Due to fire damage to the railway near Rotterdam, we expect our trains to be disrupted until at least 6 July 2026. Trains running between London and Amsterdam will not stop at Rotterdam and trains running between France/Belgium and Amsterdam will not stop at Schiphol or Rotterdam. As these trains need to take an alternative route around the damaged area, journey times will be significantly longer, and seat availability is very limited. We apologise for the inconvenience the situation has caused."
Travel Advice for Passengers
The FCDO advises travellers to verify details with their booking operator before journeying between the UK and the Netherlands and to check the latest updates on the Eurostar website. The disruption is expected to last until at least 6 July 2026.
Additional Travel Advisory for Greece
Separately, the Foreign Office updated its travel guidance for Brits heading to Greece on Thursday, 2 July. The FCDO cautioned that "terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Greece," though there is no current guidance against travel. The advisory stated: "Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals." The FCDO noted several attacks involving explosives and automatic weapons against Greek institutions, shopping malls, banks, media offices, diplomatic premises and the police. One incident on Wednesday, 1 July, involving three improvised incendiary device attacks against residential properties of Greek political figures killed one person and injured four others.
