Eurostar has finally launched its direct service from Amsterdam to London, five months later than planned and 10 months after the original start date.

The first train left Amsterdam’s central station at 7.47 am on Monday, an NS spokesman confirmed. The journey takes a timetabled four hours and nine minutes and includes stops in Rotterdam and Brussels.

Direct trains have been running from London to Amsterdam since 2018, but passengers heading for the UK still had to change trains and go through security checks in Brussels south.

The direct service should have started in December 2019 but was delayed because preparations for passport and customs controls in Amsterdam had not been completed. Coronavirus then put paid to the revised start date of April 30.

Eurostar is running two services on weekdays and none at the weekend because coronavirus has slashed demand. Visitors to the UK are supposed to undergo a 14 day period of quarantine when they arrive and a further 10 days on their return to the Netherlands.