It is just over 25 years since the U.K. forever became connected to the European mainland by rail, after the first Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels left London Waterloo on Nov. 14, 1994.
Unlike airlines, which add and drop new routes with the same frequency as Zara adds new fashion lines, Eurostar pretty much has been doing the same thing ever since—fast, frequent and direct services to Paris and Brussels with services to ski resorts and the south of France on a seasonal basis.
That changed two years ago when the company launched services between London and Amsterdam. Yet these services were not quite as slick as those to the French and Belgian capitals—travelers from the Netherlands had to stop off in Brussels to carry out passport and security checks. Half a million passengers have traveled on the service since.
Ironically, now that the U.K. has left the European Union, this is about to change. From April 30, travelers will pass through checks in Amsterdam and no longer will need to disembark in Brussels and the journey will take four hours nine minutes.
Gary McLeod, group acquisitions director of Global Travel Solutions Group and chair of The Business Travel Association's surface transportation strategy group, said, "It's great news that the hurdles have at last been overcome in Eurostar getting the go-ahead in terms of clearance formalities and can now run their direct services without travelers having to disembark in Brussels for immigration checks.
"This will mean that services from [London's] St. Pancras to Amsterdam (followed shortly by Rotterdam) will be much more comparable to a city center to city center journey via one of the London airports and Schiphol, with services which should enable the journey to be completed in less than four hours."
Scott Davies, CEO of the Institute of Travel Management, said, "ITM's buyer members will value the new direct service as it helps connectivity and provides further support for sustainable travel. The customer journey, logistics management and costs are of course all important factors which can strengthen the case for positive environmental change within travel program policy." ITM is holding a Sustainability Summit on March 24, which will explore the balance required when evaluating business travel options.
The green light for HS2 last week and the new services mean that the U.K. and Europe—Brexit notwithstanding—now are getting better high-speed rail links than ever.
In fact, there are signs these links will get even better in the future.
Speaking at the launch of the direct Eurostar services from Amsterdam, the U.K.'s transport secretary Grant Shapps told The Independent newspaper, "We are fully committed to expanding international rail routes as a Government – and Eurostar is too. Among those destinations mentioned to be added in the future is Bordeaux, Spain, Portugal, Geneva and beyond into the rest of Switzerland, Italy, Austria and Frankfurt."
However, Eurostar itself was in less of a hurry to expand, saying that it was concentrating on making the Amsterdam services a success.
That is not to say it does not have an eye on mainland Europe.
Last September, the company announced it was exploring the idea of merging with Thalys, which runs high-speed services in Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Germany, in a project codenamed Green Speed.
The companies said at the time: "The combined excellence and unique expertise of Eurostar's and Thalys' colleagues would provide a powerful platform for the future growth of European high-speed rail and a solution to this growing demand.
"Going forward, passengers would experience a comfortable, sustainable and European high-speed travel experience. By combining Thalys and Eurostar, the Green Speed project would link the U.K. with the Mediterranean, the North Sea with the Atlantic and the Benelux countries with the peaks of the Alps," they said.
"Combining resources - in particular fleets as well as information and distribution systems – would increase economic efficiency and provide the customer with an enhanced, sustainable commercial service, delivering on the ambition to increase the number of direct links between European cities in the future."
The companies envisage that combining the two companies would see passenger numbers grow from 18.5 million passengers today to nearly 30 million by 2030. Green Speed would also allow for travelers to use single tickets on the expanded network and it would offer a combined loyalty program.
Sophie Dutordoir, CEO of rail operator SNCB and chairman of high-speed rail service Thalys, said: "Thalys and Eurostar joining forces would come at the right time and could only be beneficial to all travelers. It would combine railway expertise with stable shareholders. The combination would be based on the strong conviction that, now more than ever, the train is the safest, most sustainable, fastest and most efficient solution for travelling inside Europe. Brussels would play a central role in this project as the hub for the various routes, linking all the cities that are served".
The concept of an expanded European high-speed network appeals to many parts of the business travel community.
The BTA's Gary McLeod said, "BTA members are seeing evidence of increased awareness amongst corporate travel buyers of the vastly superior network of fast intercity services operating across Europe, with some companies now mandating rail over air for inter-European travel. If Eurostar can enable greater interlining with other high-speed operators to link London with other major European cities then there is likely to be enthusiastic support from the TMC community and corporate buyers in the U.K., and this would certainly be endorsed by BTA as evidence of greater progress towards sustainable transportation solutions widening further."
Whatever Brexit brings, it seems clear that the future for European rail, at least, is a connected one.