Eurostar in Amsterdam
The Eurostar train arrives at Rotterdam Central Station, on February 1, 2018. Train manufacturer Siemens and Dutch train company NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) are conducting tests on the service that will make the connection between Amsterdam, Brussels and London. LEX VAN LIESHOUT/AFP/Getty Images

Inter-European train line, Eurostar has announced an upcoming London to Amsterdam route, set to open this spring and slated to leave less than four hours between the two major cities.

The direct route will be launched on 4 April 2018, Eurostar revealed on their website, with tickets going on sale from 20 February.

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A return trip won't be quite so smooth though, as passengers will have to change at Brussels, where they'll go through security and passport control, before returning to London. Eurostar says this is just a "temporary" arrangement.

"The UK and Netherlands governments are both working hard to find an agreement that will allow us to check travellers' passports before departure from the Netherlands, as we already do in most of our other destinations," the company wrote.

From St Pancras Int in London to Amsterdam Centraal will take just three hours and 41 minutes, the company claimed, adding that it's only three hours and one minute to Rotterdam. For the journey, ticket prices will start at £35 one-way.

The service will run twice a day from London, at 8:31am and 5:31pm. While passengers still have to change at Brussels, there are ten trains running from there to London each day. The company said that travel to Brussels will now be even faster with the new route too, only taking one hour and 48 minutes, instead of two hours and five minutes.

Currently those wishing to travel from London to Amsterdam by Eurostar had to change in Brussels in both directions, leaving a journey that took four hours and 38 minutes.

"The launch of our service to the Netherlands represents an exciting advance in cross-Channel travel and heralds a new era in international high speed rail," Eurostar Chief Executive Nicolas Petrovic said.

"With direct services from the UK to The Netherlands, France and Belgium, we are transforming the links between the UK and three of Europe's top trading nations."

Eurostar London