The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office issued a travel warning on Monday following an incident in Rotterdam that has caused disruption for the past six days
The travel warning was issued on Monday morning (Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Eurostar passengers heading to Europe had their trips disrupted by a fire.
Eurostar services between the UK and the Netherlands have been severely disrupted following a fire near Rotterdam Central station. The UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office issued a travel warning on Monday following last week’s blaze.
Last Monday, multiple London–Amsterdam services were canceled after a fire broke out in a cable duct near Rotterdam Stadion. It caused a major power failure that shut down rail traffic south of Rotterdam.
“Completely messed up my travel plans, ended up getting the ferry,” one unlucky customer who got caught up in the disruption wrote online. Another added: “We had to take the coach to Brussels. I hope we will get our refund.”
The outage disabled signaling and switch systems between Rotterdam Centraal and destinations, including Dordrecht and Breda
“Eurostar services between the UK and the Netherlands are severely disrupted following a fire near Rotterdam Central station,” the FCDO statement issued this morning read.
“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.
“If you are planning to travel between the UK and the Netherlands, check the latest information with your travel operator before you travel and the latest updates on the Eurostar website.”
Passengers are warned to check with their booking operator before they travel between the UK and the Netherlands.
A statement from the rail firm reads: “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 expect the disruption to last until at least 06 July 2026. We apologise for the inconvenience the situation has caused.”
The update comes after the Foreign Office has issued fresh travel advice for Brits heading to Greece. In the update on Thursday, July 2, the FCDO warned that “terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Greece.”
While there is no current advice against travel to Greece for British holidaymakers, the FCDO said that “attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals.”
The FCDO outlined: “There have been several attacks involving explosives and automatic weapons against Greek institutions, shopping malls, banks, media offices, diplomatic premises and the police.”
One tragic attack took place on Wednesday, July 1, which saw “three improvised incendiary device attacks against the residential properties of Greek political figures killed one person, with four others being injured.”