As all of you will know by now the UK government has imposed quarantine for travellers arriving into the UK from Belgium.
This will impact Eurostar passengers coming not only directly from Brussels/Belgium, but potentially from many other destinations too.
Brussels is a rail hub, and as Mark Smith of Seat61 reports this could impact travellers arriving from many other points.
Belgium taken off the FCO 'safe' list, so requires 14-day quarantine on return to UK, even if all you're doing is changing trains in Brussels. Journeys to Germany, Austria, Poland & so on should now be routed via Paris or Harwich-Hoek van Holland. https://t.co/qVap06rgWI
— The Man in Seat 61 (@seatsixtyone) August 7, 2020
He tells Business Traveller that examples would be travellers heading to the UK via Brussels from Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Prague, Warsaw, Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg etc.
Alternative routings would be via Paris or the Hook of Holland (for the ferry to Harwich) or by air.
At the time of writing the situation remains unclear, and I have written this copy simply to alert you, dear readers, to the potential situation.
Business Traveller contacted Eurostar for comment, which provided us the following by email:
“We would not comment on government policy, so that is really for the Border Force who are implementing these measures and responsible for making these checks.
“From our point of view, we will continue to monitor demand, and adapt our timetable accordingly, whilst ensuring that those that need to travel can continue to do so at a safe distance.
“In terms of Amsterdam-London, we understand that as this is a connecting service [passengers complete immigration/security clearance at Brussels Midi] then travellers are still [travelling] Brussels-London so Belgian quarantine rules would apply”
