Brussels-Hague train will take longer and cost more

The cost of a train ticket with the Benelux train from Brussels to The Hague will go up next month by 8%, with additional increases for journeys with connections to other destinations, the Dutch rail authority NS said. However they denied this was a price increase, arguing it is a return to the pre-2012 tariff. Last year, when the Benelux train was reinstated following the disastrous episode of the Fyra train, fares were reduced as a PR exercise. Passengers paid less during 2013, so they have already had a substantial benefit, the NS said.

The new Benelux route will also take 11 minutes longer, the NS said, a proposal described by the Dutch rail users' association Locov as “nonsense”.

Earlier in October, transport company Arriva, a subsidiary of the German rail authority Deutsche Bahn, said it would begin operating a high-speed rail link between the two capitals from 2014, using trains which can reach speeds of 200 km/h in comparison to the NS trains' 160 km/h. The service will run 16 times a day and stop at Breda.