Author Topic: New night trains  (Read 7363 times)

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New night trains
« Reply #25 on: 10 May, 2020, 12:48:46 pm »
You should be fine on the standard seats. Eurostar is now old rolling stock. The trend for ridiculously cramped conditions hadn't really set in when those trains were built. I'm 5'10" (wide* as well as tall) and I'm OK in the standard seats.

*I always try to get an window seat on a second class British Rail train as otherwise I have a trolley shaped bruise on one or other side, just below the shoulder.

Not quite true. The service that goes to Amsterdam uses Siemens Velaro D trains (aka ICE 3 family), unlike the older TGV derived stock.

But the chairs are fine, I have a large arse and have no issue fitting in them.

If you're taking time around europe weigh up the cost of an interrail pass option, Eurostar costs 35 euro each way with one but unless it's changed you can only book the seat through SNCBs website (which is surprisingly decent)

With Interrail, AVE, SNCF and Thalys are a pain in the arse due to compulsory reservations, Germany is generally easy even ICE is on it without compulsory reservation (excluding some border crossings such as into Denmark) though some land level operators aren't on it, where as some S-Bahns are.  Swizterland is a minefield of private operators but easy enough to work out. I could og on for ever better just reading Seat 61 if you haven't already.

Agreed with the interrail pass. They are really useful.

They recently brought out a new pass, 4 days in a 30 day period. For €246. Or about €65 a day. I used this to get from Amsterdam to Copenhagen, I didn't need to reserve, and it was cheaper than buying a direct ticket each way. You only need to reserve on the cross border DE<->DK train in the summer months. The downside is that using an interrail pass in France is a right utter pain in the arse, cos France...  But if you avoid France and play with the rest of Europe, it's great. I used one a few years back to get all the way from Canterbury to Crete, and back to Utrecht, without needing to fly (we did go through France on the way out, which was a faff).

J

--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

bhoot

  • MemSec (ex-Mrs RRtY)
Re: New night trains
« Reply #26 on: 10 May, 2020, 01:27:04 pm »
Standard's fine, in both train sets. It's not mickey mouse trains like we have here, it's proper europe sized stuff.
I marginally prefer the seating on the Alstom E300 sets over the Siemens E320 sets.
And the ride is more comfortable on the old trains (but maybe I am just biased as I work for Alstom and not Siemens!)

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: New night trains
« Reply #27 on: 10 May, 2020, 10:11:38 pm »
Can say I've ever noticed but then their direct previous comparisons always been a rattle down the east or west coast...

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keeks

  • shooting from the hip ... because I am
Re: New night trains
« Reply #28 on: 11 May, 2020, 11:38:15 am »
Hi , never been on Eurostar before ,but me and the Wife are looking at a Month travelling in Europe next year - buses and trains etc
but just checked prices for a trip to Amsterdam £42 for a standard £ 89 premier , the only difference being the Premier has more spacious seats ? So anyone know what the standard ones are like. I'm certainly not big  I laugh at , "mind your head " and  concerns about leg room in cars /planes.

You should be fine on the standard seats. Eurostar is now old rolling stock. The trend for ridiculously cramped conditions hadn't really set in when those trains were built. I'm 5'10" (wide* as well as tall) and I'm OK in the standard seats.

*I always try to get an window seat on a second class British Rail train as otherwise I have a trolley shaped bruise on one or other side, just below the shoulder.

Thanks, looking at least a French trip or two next year, so just hope they don't elevate prices in the wake of people abandoning air travel

Re: New night trains
« Reply #29 on: 11 May, 2020, 11:51:42 am »
Hi , never been on Eurostar before ,but me and the Wife are looking at a Month travelling in Europe next year - buses and trains etc
but just checked prices for a trip to Amsterdam £42 for a standard £ 89 premier , the only difference being the Premier has more spacious seats ? So anyone know what the standard ones are like. I'm certainly not big  I laugh at , "mind your head " and  concerns about leg room in cars /planes.

I recommend https://www.seat61.com/ the man in seat 61, he's got pretty good information on european trains including the rolling stock, seating and the differences between the classes.

I use him for planning our rail travel as we much prefer sail and rail to flying.
Somewhat of a professional tea drinker.


quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New night trains
« Reply #30 on: 11 May, 2020, 11:57:08 am »

For route planning I really like bahn.de, both their website and app are really useful for planning international trips. Really recommend it.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: New night trains
« Reply #31 on: 11 May, 2020, 04:00:24 pm »

For route planning I really like bahn.de, both their website and app are really useful for planning international trips. Really recommend it.

J
There is a route planner made for Interrail planning that is even more flexible than the Bahn.de offerings.
It's in the (android) store as Eurrail/Interrail rail planner.
It has a number of options that we like including the option of minimum change times, and limiting the journey to 'pass network' services (eg it excluded Flix services).
I used it extensively to plan our aborted Interrail trip (which should have started today) and found a number of services not listed in the printed European Rail Timetable in the app.
It's probably a mistake to rely on a single source if the journey is complex or time sensitive!
Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: New night trains
« Reply #32 on: 11 May, 2020, 11:28:24 pm »
Between the lot of them, I can't remember how I found out about the local train from Göteborg and Trollhattan (I obviously went to the Saab museum) to the first station over the border in norway.
3 people on board at the border too, the other 2 also in interrail.

On most systems including the SJ reporting it ceased to exist after the last ststion in Sweden.

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quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New night trains
« Reply #33 on: 11 May, 2020, 11:33:44 pm »
Between the lot of them, I can't remember how I found out about the local train from Göteborg and Trollhattan (I obviously went to the Saab museum) to the first station over the border in norway.
3 people on board at the border too, the other 2 also in interrail.

On most systems including the SJ reporting it ceased to exist after the last ststion in Sweden.


There's a few weird ones like that, esp with borders. There was a time when the train from Brussels to Amsterdam was only considered to have a wheel chair space from Brussels to the border. The train doesn't change in anyway, it's fixed formations. It's just how the train is put in the route info system.

Borders are hard...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: New night trains
« Reply #34 on: 14 May, 2020, 01:09:31 pm »
Aye you can see that with bikes and other stuff.

Crew changes at borders can be interesting, got the rail jet from Vienna to Budapest years ago, the Hbf was still under construction but can't remember where it started from anyway the OBB train crew were quite relaxed about bags being in the wrong place, the MAV crew on the other hand had an entire carriage of people shifting stuff to their proper places.



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quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New night trains
« Reply #35 on: 14 May, 2020, 01:12:17 pm »
Aye you can see that with bikes and other stuff.

Crew changes at borders can be interesting, got the rail jet from Vienna to Budapest years ago, the Hbf was still under construction but can't remember where it started from anyway the OBB train crew were quite relaxed about bags being in the wrong place, the MAV crew on the other hand had an entire carriage of people shifting stuff to their proper places.

Yeah, have had that with a switch from NS to DB crew. NS didn't care that my bike was just locked to the empty bike racks. DB crew insisted the bike be in the rack, and refused to give me any help to lift it up there. Useless jobsworth morons...

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: New night trains
« Reply #36 on: 30 May, 2020, 11:50:00 pm »
I've hit the point when I see a train crossing the tay bridge as I drive home from work and just want to lob myself on one and go somewhere.

The time when that will again be possible seems so far away.

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quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: New night trains
« Reply #37 on: 18 August, 2020, 03:00:09 pm »
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Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/