After more than twenty years, the popular summer train between Amsterdam, Antwerp, Brussels and Marseille is disappearing, Treinreiziger.nl reports. The service, which ran weekly to Marseille during the summer holidays, is being cancelled by Eurostar.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the train had an occupancy rate of no less than 94%. Eurostar does not share recent figures, but the company does report that approximately 4,500 passengers from the Netherlands used the train last year. This figure excludes from Belgium-based passengers, for whom the train was even more popular. 

Eurostar spokeswoman Cordula Descheemaeker acknowledges that “the Eurostar Sun has a loyal following”.

“We understand that this can be disappointing news”.

Strategic choice

Eurostar calls the decision to discontinue the connection a strategic choice and states that it wants to focus on core routes. 

“Eurostar’s focus is on the most important stations and on the connections between city centres,” according to the Eurostar spokesperson. When asked whether the company will now run more often on Saturdays to Paris, the company does not respond. The Eurostar Sun will be completely cancelled, including from Brussels.

Eurostar emphasises that passengers can still travel to the South of France by train, but with a transfer in Brussels or Paris. 

In the case of Paris, there is a transfer through the city between Paris-North and Paris-Gare-de-Lyon, which is not included and is experienced as stressful by many passengers.

Since 2002

The direct train to Marseille was introduced in 2002 under the name Sun-Thalys. 

Since 2023, the train has been running as ‘Eurostar Sun’. Eurostar announced in January that the company had a record number of passengers last year and wants to transport thirty percent more passengers in 2030. The company wants to buy fifty new high-speed trains.

Less attractive

With the disappearance of the Eurostar Sun, the only direct train between the Netherlands and the South of France will disappear. 

“It was an easy and stress-free way to travel to the Mediterranean Sea“, Treinreiziger.nl editor and Treinrondreis owner Hildebrand van Kuijeren responds to the news. 

“Now we have to transfer more, which makes the journey less attractive.” He calls the decision remarkable, because the idea is that the train should become more attractive up to 750 kilometers. 

“Then there is a need for more trains, and the demand is there too”, says Van Kuijeren.

Indeed

Van Kuijeren is right, the decision is remarkable and will probably be based on financial and logistical parametres. It’s a missed opportunity. But from Paris there are several trains per day to Marseille.

Maybe SNCF and its OUIGO brand can fill in the gap? 

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