Daily train services from Amsterdam, Utrecht and Arnhem to Switzerland will end this summer because German operator Deutsche Bahn no longer wants to provide the ICE International to Basel.

The service, which took 6.5 hours from Amsterdam to the Swiss city and was launched 96 years ago, will cease on July 15, the Volkskrant reported on Friday.

According to the NS website, the service is being halted for maintenance work up to mid December but “it is unclear what the service will be after the work has been done”. One option may be a fast train to Munich instead, the Volkskrant said.

International trains have been widely touted as an alternative to short haul flights, and several international train companies are jostling for space to deliver services from the Netherlands.

Most are foreign owned firms, but the NS last year submitted requests to the Dutch competition authority to offer open-access services to London, Paris, Berlin, Frankfurt, Vienna and Innsbruck.

Austrian train company Nightjet also provides night train services to Switzerland.