Eurostar Confirms Direct London to Antwerp Trains From December 2026, but Only One Way
Four daily trains will reach Antwerp in 2 hours 41 minutes, eliminating the Brussels change on the outward journey, though the return still requires a transfer because Antwerp-Central lacks UK border facilities.
On 14 December 2026, Eurostar will begin running four direct trains each day from London St Pancras International to Antwerp-Central, cutting the journey to 2 hours 41 minutes and removing the change at Brussels-Midi that passengers have endured until now. The 34-minute saving over the current 3 hour 15 minute itinerary is a genuine step forward for anyone heading to Belgium’s second city, but the announcement comes with a significant catch: return trips will still require a change of trains in Brussels, because Antwerp-Central lacks the dedicated UK border and customs checkpoint that direct departures demand.
The new timetable, detailed by Trip By Trip, schedules departures from London at 06:16, 08:16, 11:04, and 18:04, offering options for early meetings, midday arrivals, and evening getaways. The time saving comes entirely from eliminating the stop and platform change at Brussels-South, where passengers currently rush through a crowded station to find a connecting service. Under the new arrangement, a traveller can step off the train directly into Antwerp’s soaring historic terminus.
The reason for the asymmetry is a matter of infrastructure. The UK’s border regime for Eurostar requires pre-departure passport and security checks at the station of departure, a setup that Brussels-Midi already operates. Antwerp-Central, however, has never been equipped with the secure holding areas, lanes, or customs facilities that make direct London-bound services possible. For the return journey, passengers will still have to disembark at Brussels-Midi, clear the controls there, and board a connecting train, recreating the old itinerary in reverse.
This lopsided rollout is unlikely to surprise anyone familiar with cross-Channel rail. The pattern of launching direct outbound services while return legs lag until station infrastructure catches up has been repeated on other routes. In Antwerp’s case, the terminal’s celebrated architecture and listed status make the kind of retrofitting seen at Brussels or Paris far more complex, leaving planners with no easy fix.
The practical effect is a service that feels noticeably faster on the way out but falls back to the status quo on the way back. Day-trippers and weekend visitors gain an extra half hour in the city, while the return leg remains a two-step journey. For a route that often felt like an afterthought compared with the high-frequency Brussels and Paris connections, the direct train is a long-sought improvement—even if it is, for now, a one-way upgrade.
What happens next depends on whether Antwerp-Central can eventually accommodate the necessary security apparatus. For the time being, the direct train is a concrete improvement for anyone travelling to Antwerp, leaving the return journey as a reminder of how much cross-Channel rail still depends on infrastructure that not every beautiful station possesses.