Rail company Thalys has reduced their services between Amsterdam and Paris. From Saturday, only one train to the French capital will depart from Amsterdam Centraal per day. 

Reduced number of Thalys trains from Amsterdam

The Dutch government has been discouraging international travel for several months now, with the coronavirus crisis forcing Thalys to cut their number of daily services. Since the spring, the number of travellers has been significantly reduced, and while there were typically trains departing from Amsterdam every two hours, since June there have been only two high-speed trains a day. 

Heading into the holiday season - a time of year when many people would maybe be considering festive weekend trips to other European cities - Thalys will only be running one service a day, from November 7 to December 12. 

The impact of the coronavirus crisis on international travel

A spokesperson for the company said: “Thalys is currently facing the worst crisis in its history and expects a 70 percent decline in turnover in 2020. The ongoing coronavirus and new far-reaching measures by the various governments in the countries in which Thalys operates are forcing us to further adjust the timetable.” 

Thalys isn’t the only rail company being forced to make cuts. Eurostar and NS launched the direct train route between Amsterdam and London on October 26, but with only one training running in either direction per day, and no trains running over weekends.