Hook of Holland rail station to reopen in September

Rail-sea link from Harwich will use bus until September

Late running: testing new trams on the line adjacent to Hook of Holland's quayside (RET)

One of the great Continental gateways is finally set to re-open its rail link, two years behind schedule.

Hook of Holland’s rail station closed in March 2017 for a six-month project to convert it to a stop on the Rotterdam Metro.

But the connecting bus for passengers arriving by ferry from Harwich has had to run for two years longer than expected.

The ferry service between Harwich and Hoek van Holland, to use the Dutch name, was a key European link for a century.

Direct boat trains ran to Harwich from UK cities such as Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow as well as London. Only the London link now remains.

But Chris Woodcock, editor of the European Rail Timetable, said: “It’s my preferred route to the Continent and I am looking forward to the return of the rail connection on the Dutch side.”

Mark Smith, the international rail guru who runs the Seat61.com website, said: “Stena Line sell Rail & Sail tickets from London or any Greater Anglia station to Amsterdam or any Dutch station from £55 each way, covering the British train, Harwich-Hook ferry, and Dutch trains.

“There’s both a daytime service and a time-effective overnight one with comfy private cabins. It’s a convenient and very affordable no-fly way to travel to the Netherlands, or even to Germany and beyond.”

Re-orientation: Hook of Holland Haven railway station is turning into a Metro stop (NS (Dutch Railways))

From the grand station at Hook of Holland, which opened in 1893, direct trains ran to Basel and Berlin, with onward connections to Moscow.

As cheap air travel spread across Europe, demand for train-ferry-train links declined.

While Stena Line continues to run a twice-daily ferry between Harwich and Hook of Holland, the once-mighty Continental rail terminus was relegated to part of the Metro system for the second-biggest city in the Netherlands.

The project has gone 25 per cent above the original budget of €372m (£334m).

Initial hold-ups were due to the discovery of contaminated ground and traces of asbestos, but later delays were due to problems with signalling software.

During the protracted project, Rotterdam gained its own direct connection from London with Eurostar trains via Brussels. There are now three daily trains on the route.