Arriva plans to launch train services linking Dutch cities including Utrecht and The Hague with Belgium and Paris from February 2028, or as soon as possible after that.
The Dutch rail operator has submitted notification of the plan to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The proposed services form part of two longer international routes connecting Amersfoort and The Hague with the French capital.
On both routes, trains would stop in Antwerp, Brussels Airport, Brussels-South and Mons.
The Hague-Paris service would run three times a day in each direction. In the Netherlands, it would also call at Rotterdam and Roosendaal.
The Amersfoort-Paris route, via Utrecht, ’s-Hertogenbosch and Breda, would operate twice a day.
Arriva had already announced plans for a separate Groningen-Paris service, with the same stops in Belgium as the newly proposed routes. The first trains on that line were initially due to start in June this year.
However, the company previously said that timetable would not be met and that the service would not begin before 2027 at the earliest. The Groningen route remains part of its plans.
For travellers in Belgium, the new links could provide additional options for journeys to and from Paris.
Arriva is the main competitor to Dutch national rail operator NS. It already operates in Belgium through the Three Countries Train, which connects Liège, Maastricht and Aachen.
