Rail passengers will be able to travel directly from London to Amsterdam and back from the end of October, Eurostar has announced.

The new return service commences on October 26 and will enable people to travel to the Netherlands’ capital in four hours and nine minutes, with tickets costing at least £40 each way.

Passengers will also be able to go from Rotterdam, located south of Amsterdam, back to St Pancras International in London in three hours 29 minutes.

While passengers can already travel to Amsterdam from London directly, Eurostar said the existing return journey requires them to change trains at Brussels in Belgium, increasing the travel time to about five hours.

The announcement comes as the UK Government removed the Netherlands from its list of countries people can travel to without having to quarantine on their return.

Travellers who arrive back in the UK from the Netherlands after August 15 have to self-isolate for 14 days under coronavirus safety measures.

Tickets for the new rail service go on sale from September 1 and can be booked up to six months in advance.

Eurostar said all bookings made from July 1 to December 31 are exchangeable for any dates of travel available at the time of purchase, with no exchange fee up to 14 days before departure.

The company said its trains are deep cleaned before every journey and that a new seat map system will ensure passengers are kept at a safe distance apart.