Author Topic: European Train Travel (Read 2995 times)

Wowbagger · « **on:** 28 December, 2022, 04:30:35 pm »

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/28/pan-european-sleeper-train-to-sweep-britons-to-berlin-from-may-2023

That looks like a very tempting service. The article makes no mention of taking a bike: I understand that the reason bikes are no longer taken on Eurostar is that, if your bike is put on a different train from yourself (a common practice before brexit) it is no longer personal luggage and is considered an import, and is therefore subject to duty. So it's probably not going to be practical, but even without a bike is seems like a Jolly Fine Adventure.

andrewc · « **Reply #1 on:** 28 December, 2022, 05:24:10 pm »

https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/european-sleeper.htm

"Bikes are carried on the sleeper for €24."

Kim · « **Reply #2 on:** 28 December, 2022, 05:26:42 pm »

Getting your bike on the Eurostar left as an exercise for the reader...

robgul · « **Reply #3 on:** 28 December, 2022, 06:47:18 pm »

The service starts for the Brussels - Berlin segment on 24 May 2023, 3 times per week to start with - BUT as Kim comments getting your bike by train to Brussels is problematic with the ever-unhelpful Eurostar.

Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #4 on:** 28 December, 2022, 07:02:37 pm »

Ride and ferry, or regional train and ferry, seems to present itself as the answer.

yorkie · « **Reply #5 on:** 28 December, 2022, 07:02:52 pm »

With a bike:

Train to Dover, cycle to Eastern Docks, DFDS ferry to Dunkerque, cycle across the border to De Panne, train to Gent Sint Pieters, change to train to Brussel Zuid/Midi

Alternative route is to cycle a bit further up the coast to Oostende and get the direct train to Brussel Zuid/Midi.

Kim · « **Reply #6 on:** 28 December, 2022, 07:39:51 pm »

Quote from: yorkie on 28 December, 2022, 07:02:52 pm

Train to Dover, cycle to Eastern Docks, DFDS ferry to Dunkerque, cycle across the border to De Panne, train to Gent Sint Pieters, change to train to Brussel Zuid/Midi

Would be my approach. Be prepared to lift your bike up and down steps (both to access platforms, and the train itself).

quixoticgeek · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 December, 2022, 08:26:15 pm »

Or do the ferry to Hoek, or ferry to Ijmuiden, and join the train at Rotterdam and Amsterdam respectively...

J

Mrs Pingu · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 December, 2022, 09:04:23 pm »

Quote from: quixoticgeek on 28 December, 2022, 08:26:15 pm

Or do the ferry to Hoek, or ferry to Ijmuiden, and join the train at Rotterdam and Amsterdam respectively...

J

Which would make the most sense for us northern gits.

perpetual dan · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 December, 2022, 10:31:51 pm »

Miss Dan the Younger and i did the day train from Berlin this summer. It was about the limit of what I'd want to do without it becoming an endurance sport.

Our sleeper to Vienna was a good trip - though with quite a lot of hanging about on the day back day.

Without having read the article, what's the cycle provision on the sleeper like? Because the standard sleeping cabin doesn't have a lot of bike room.

Also, has a small folder stopped being accepted on Eurostar?

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drgannet · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 December, 2022, 10:40:13 pm »

Quote from: perpetual dan on 28 December, 2022, 10:31:51 pm

Also, has a small folder stopped being accepted on Eurostar?

From the website: "You can still bring a folding bike or children's bike on board as long as it's no longer than 85 cm in length and it's carried in a protective bag which covers the whole bike. This is to protect your bike, other people and their luggage both at the station, on board and going through security."

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/travel-planning/luggage/bikes

So, the Airnimal's still OK then

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 December, 2022, 11:21:06 pm »

Quote from: Mrs Pingu on 28 December, 2022, 09:04:23 pm

Quote from: quixoticgeek on 28 December, 2022, 08:26:15 pm

Or do the ferry to Hoek, or ferry to Ijmuiden, and join the train at Rotterdam and Amsterdam respectively...

J

Which would make the most sense for us northern gits.

I can never make the Newcastle ferry work time wise, having to be in North shields for 4pm sailing means its a day off work, by which time I can be... Checks interrail log book... In muenster (realistically Hamburg, Hannover or a late arrival in Berlin is doable but its all day on the train)

That said the night trains and night ferries do give you time to explore the towns you stop in.

The train from Edinburgh arriving in King's Cross at 1am is handy, 4hrs to kill in London in the wee hours though.

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Mr Larrington · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 December, 2022, 11:23:34 pm »

Professor Larrington has some horror stories about Deutsche Bahn from this summer. Some of them even related by Germans.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 December, 2022, 11:34:50 pm »

Our one of our last holidays involving German train travel demonstrated that the German railways are not what they are reputed to be, one train (Brussels:Cologne) being very late, and, on our return, one half of the train failing to arrive to take us from Frankfurt to Cologne, and the two of use being force to stand in an extremely crowded carriage for the entire journey.

A friend of mine recounts a story from about 20 years ago when he and a group of friends were on a train which left the German station 15 seconds late. As a piss-take they mentioned this to one of the train staff, and he was abjectly apologetic.

quixoticgeek · « **Reply #14 on:** 28 December, 2022, 11:40:38 pm »

My train back from Köln last weekend was cancelled, resulting in me having to get the next train, thus losing the reserved seat, then the train came in backwards, so my first class ticket was useless as I didn't want to run 8 carriages. But I did at least get a seat, Eventually, by the time I got home, it was nearly 2.5 hours late, on a 3 hour journey. NS (who I purchased the ticket through), refunded me in 4 days, 50% of my ticket price.

J

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #15 on:** 28 December, 2022, 11:55:21 pm »

The Prof ended up having to spend the night in Köln rather than Aachen on the way back from Austria – whose trains, she says, are æxcellent – but some poor sod wandering the Hauptbahnhof at the same time needed to get to Amsterdam to catch a plane only to be told “This train terminates here. There might be one going towards Amsterdam. Or not.”

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 December, 2022, 01:09:56 am »

I once got on an IC service at I think Trier heading for Bonn, between DB and CFL (Luxembourg) there's some sort of agreement that if one bit of the train fails to turn up in time, the bit that's on time does the service and the bit that doesn't terminates.

The DB part was late so a 2 car CFL DMU turned up with many confused Germans boarding asking me if it was the intercity (I must have looked Confident) .
Being on an interrail ticket meant I was up for a mystery tour if all the info boards were wrong. Me responding with my best "ich weiß es nicht" didn't seem to help them.

The previous day I had been on the other side as the CFL train I was on for Koblenz from the city was delayed and I saw all destinations past Trier show cancelled.

If my geography is bollocks swap Trier and Koblenz round it was a few years ago now... About 2018ish...

Also been on majorly late Ice services but DB will run Munich to Berlin via Köln so delays multiply on that.

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Cudzoziemiec · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 December, 2022, 11:54:01 am »

Quote from: Wowbagger on 28 December, 2022, 11:34:50 pm

A friend of mine recounts a story from about 20 years ago when he and a group of friends were on a train which left the German station 15 seconds late. As a piss-take they mentioned this to one of the train staff, and he was abjectly apologetic.

I think working timetables (the ones used by drivers, signallers etc, not the public) in the UK are timed to a half-minute. But a tracin driver or signaller will be along in a minute to tell you the correct version.

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #18 on:** 29 December, 2022, 01:09:16 pm »

RealTimeTrain and OpenTrain Times use the WTT, can see it at
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G10571/2022-12-29/detailed

That link will probably only work today

felstedrider · « **Reply #19 on:** 29 December, 2022, 01:43:28 pm »

With J becoming very interested in trains of late we did a mini-tour at half term. London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-London. The first and last legs were Eurostar but the middle 2 were the excellent Thalys services. I noted there were Thalys connections going to Germany from the Gare du Nord so would consider that. We really want to go to miniature wonderland in Hamburg but I have also seen horror stories of the connections between Brussels and Hanover, particularly at weekends.

I'm off to Girona at the end of Feb for a week of riding and using the TGV from Paris.

MikeFromLFE · « **Reply #20 on:** 29 December, 2022, 02:30:26 pm »

I can only recall one German main line train journey that was uneventful - there may have been others but... .

Examples from our Trans Europe Experiences in the years leading up to covid:

Train to Frankfurt Hbf terminated short of Flughaven with no explanation and no onward instructions.

Hannover to Bonn with the service on the platform display getting later and later until it finally just disappeared off the panel.

Arrival 2 hours late into Berlin (from where I can't remember) - this time there were on-board announcements that (in the English version) were treating it a huge joke.

I really don't know where the reputation of DB comes from!

rafletcher · « **Reply #21 on:** 29 December, 2022, 02:45:10 pm »

Quote from: MikeFromLFE on 29 December, 2022, 02:30:26 pm

I really don't know where the reputation of DB comes from!

I think it’s part and parcel of the equally undeserved reputation for overall German efficiency. And maybe that’s a trickle-down from the supposed efficiency of the Nazi regime - see also timely trains in Italy under Mussolini.

Lightning Phil · « **Reply #22 on:** 29 December, 2022, 02:58:04 pm »

Some fantastic trains for bike carriage in Italy. Modern stuff, not from Mussolini’s time you understand.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 December, 2022, 03:44:45 pm »

Bad taste joke alert.

(click to show/hide)

quixoticgeek · « **Reply #24 on:** 29 December, 2022, 04:45:42 pm »

Quote from: felstedrider on 29 December, 2022, 01:43:28 pm

With J becoming very interested in trains of late we did a mini-tour at half term. London-Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam-London. The first and last legs were Eurostar but the middle 2 were the excellent Thalys services. I noted there were Thalys connections going to Germany from the Gare du Nord so would consider that. We really want to go to miniature wonderland in Hamburg but I have also seen horror stories of the connections between Brussels and Hanover, particularly at weekends.

I'm off to Girona at the end of Feb for a week of riding and using the TGV from Paris.

Yeah, the connection from Brussels to Hannover to get to Hamburg would be horrible... That's completely the wrong route...

ICE from Brussels to Koln, then EC8 from Koln to Hamburg...

J