I caught the NEW Eurostar train to Germany! (Sort of...)
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- čas přidán 20. 02. 2024
- The new Eurostar high-speed service to GERMANY is here... sort of! 🇩🇪
Join me as I ride this former Thalys high-speed train from Brussels to Köln, and show you that maybe this new service isn't quite what you'd expect from a Eurostar train...
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Journey Details:
Origin: Brussels-Midi/Zuid
Destination: Köln Hbf
Company: Eurostar International
Train: SNCF TGV PBKA
Accommodation: Standard Class Seat (2nd)
Distance: 222 kilometres (138 miles)
Price: £21.00 (€24.20 / $25.50)
Time: 1 hour 50 minutes, arrived 15 minutes late
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Find me elsewhere:
superalbs.weebly.com/
/ superalbs
/ superalbstravels
/ superalbstravels
the train being delayed in germany is such an authentic experience
And a train being on time in Germany is very rare 😊
Vorsprung Durch Teknik
Indonesia high speed railway whoosh faster than eurostar, high speed railway whoosh top speed 420 km/h.usualy by car 3 or 4 hours to bandung city. But by whoosh jakarta city to bandung only 45 minuts 👍
Great review - thanks for this. Glad you took anti-crime precautions at Brussel Zuid - it’s a notorious hotspot. But it’s worth stocking up on food for the journey, as Eurostar on train catering is hopeless. Glad though that you had an authentic DB punctuality experience.
@@soluckyme910 No, that railway track is limited to 350 km/h operating speed.
I wish some day there could be direct services from London to place as far Lyon, Oslo, Madrid or even Warsaw
until about 2018 ish eurostar did run a daily, summer only, train from london-marseilles. it called at avignon and lyon.
Manchester to Ibiza would be the most profitable high-speed line ever 😂
@@andrewyoung749Think it stopped immediately before (C-word) and wasn't restored after
Or Switzerland
For Oslo there is an easy method have it run up the ECML then loaded onto a train ferry from Newcastle Upon Tyne to Kristiansand where it will be on the rails again. Remember this used to be an older method between the United Kingdom and Mainland Europe you basically load the train onto the train Ferry then rails after the ferry. This used to exist between France/Belgium/Netherlands to the United Kingdom.
PBA stands for Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam and PBKA stands for Paris-Brussels-Cologne (Köln)-Amsterdam. The difference is that the PBKA trains can also work with German track voltage and safety systems in addition to the French, Belgian and Dutch ones.
Shoutout to Erps-Kwerps !
When I saw the thumbnail, I thought that we finally got a connection from London to maybe Berlin or so. The immediate "oh..." moment, when you explained that this Eurostar is not what you associate with the name. What a shame.
Yeah, they should've kept the Thalys name.
My biggest issue being a UK citizen is that the train you travelled on couldn’t start from the London.
Having services to Koln/Frankfurt would be a game changer, making life so much easier and connectivity a breeze to further afield within all part of Europe.
No chance of that now that we have left the EU, and ridiculously don't even accept EU identity cards. It will be 2028/29 before we cab rejoin the Single Market. What a betrayal of our young people, unable to work, study or travel freely across the Continent
I don’t think it’s a big deal to change the train in Bruxelles when traveling between London and Frankfurt. However, it’s quite a long journey compared to a flight. But I’ve chosen it a few times.
It would be possible to have Eurostar (the UK one) serve Köln and Frankfurt. The main problem would be that you'd need one (ideally 2) platforms permanently locked down because of passport checks and all that. With the current amount of congestion at the main stations of these cities this is not a viable way of providing the service. (You have to remember the German rail network is running at 125% of its capacity)
@NoZoDE The Trains allowed in the UK and Channel tunnel(E300 and E320) cannot handle 15KV. They are not able to go any further then Aachen
@@willhovell9019You really have mot got a clue have you. Never mind Brexit, the reason why the trains cannot run through from Berlin to London is absolutely nothing to do with Brexit. Now how strange is that? Only to dome ignoramus like you.
The reason is Getlink - 8:27 formerly Eurostar, REFUSE to allow the trains to run through for very strict safety reasons. If the can prove the trains comply they will let them run through the tunnel.
Nothing more nothing less.
Freedom of movement - 95% of British people who went to work in tbe EU held no qualifications for jobs, were told they didn't qualify for enemployment benefits etc. They also did not see why the had to register in the country they went in to. So don't moan about things you clearly know sweet FA about!
You've got to be the first person in history to announce Düren to have a beautiful station! Haha
I like how you're pronouncing place names in their local language, and at least for German you're doing a pretty good job at it!
Well, looked nice to me from the seconds I saw. :)
Yes. His pronounciation is always perfect.
@@paulplus3830 It's not, the old building looks OK, but the rest of the station is terrible.
@@paulplus3830 keep it at seconds.. Düren might be the ugliest city in Germany. It was also the most destroyed in the 2nd WW
3:29 Just to be completely correct, this is a __dutch__ ICE, owned by Netherlands Spoorwegen. The logo is more than clear. Yes it does run Belgium to Germany as a part of some trilateral shenanigans between DB, NS and SNCB. But formally it's a Dutch (yet German-made) train.
Yeah this specific train set is owned by NS. His statement isn't wrong though since this service is also provided by "normal" ICE trains haha
NS sold their ICE's a couple years back ;)
The train is a second generation French TGV
@@michaelhunt6621
No, it isn’t !
@@allie-873They sold 1 set, the 4654. 4651-4653 are still owned by NS.
Pasta Way almost sounds like a Belgian joke 😂
The "abandoned station" (12:31) is Nothberg. It was closed 15 years ago as part of the work on the high-speed line. but was replaced by a new station on a local line a few hundred metres away.
It's interesting to see that nothing really changed with Eurostar's takeover of Thalys. I like to call them Theurostar :D (it's a pun because "teuer" means expensive)
Thalys was cheaper than eurostar for fares...
Of course Erps-Kwerps had to be mentioned lol... what a name xD
Once i had a 2 hour layover in Brussels, so we went to a restaurant nearby, but when I walked out the station the only thing I can smell was Piss
Well their most famous statue is a boy having a piss 😂
Nice and Very informative video about Eurostar train. I love 💗 your all videos and confident to have information about global Train services not too late. Keep it up Albie.
In my opinion the new Eurostar brand is a very nice addition to the High Speed Train business in Europe, although the trains from former Thalys are a bit worn down, the prices are unbeatable, so I hope they start offering more destinations!
Thanks for the interesting video! The colorful pattern on Guillemins station’s canopy was an art installation for few months. Normally it’s just clear glass.
Oh that's a pity - it looks so good!
The rest of the city being beautiful makes up for its loss!
Its there for two years now
@@martinbitter4162 They should keep it!
@@martinbitter4162 Should be permanent. What an entrance to the city. That and the way the train curves in along the Meuse valley
The merger works well for me. I'm not sure why it's confusing. Why would a Eurostar train mandatory have to go to London? It's just confusing because you forgot about the merger!
As a frequent user of both the red and blue Eurostars (let's call them that way), what I love is that the loyalty programmes have merged. Previously I was a carte blanche member with the (former) Eurostar, but I had trouble keeping a status level on Thalys. Now, as carte blanche member of the merged company, I can get e.g. lounge access with both.
Would be cool if Eurostar used the names to differentiate
It becomes a problem in stations that have both shengen and non-shengen eurostars operating. Previously the name differentiated if you had to pass through the terminal, what time you had to be at the station, etc. Nowadays that's not so straight forward anymore. For frequent travellers it can sure be straight forward, but for people only using them for the occasional trip abroad this really just unnecessarily complicates things.
because the whole reason Eurostar was created was to connect the uk with the rest of Europe by rail
Certainly it is confusing in the UK. Since 1994 travellers here automatically think of E* as an international train service linking London with mainland Europe.
@@jlust6660 yeah well then complain about the English, not Eurostar :)
awesome video my brother really hard-working boy keep it up ❤️
Loved how you moved on a different platform just to get a better shot for the intro. Great video as always!
I travelled on Thalys once and found the seats cramped. The positive is that the windows in the cafe carriage are at the right height for looking through when standing. The cross Channel Eurostar Siemens trains have low level windows which really detract from the cafe bar experience.
Great Trip,Cheers Fella 👍😉💪
I always love your videos!
Love your videos! Greetings from Germany 🇩🇪
Great video !!
Great trip report
Chairs and suspension smooth as a Citroen !
Thanks mate, best thing was the cute speaker :)
Quite wise that you had booked the ticket two months in advance. The Eurostar and Thalys could be very greasy if you book too late, for example a ticket only from Aachen to Liège can cost you around 80 Euros...
As one more piece of information, the international trains coming from and going to Belgium may only use the platforms 6 through 9 in Aachen Hbf as only the overhead lines of these platforms can be changed between Belgian 3kV DC and German 15kV AC 16.7 Hz. Perhaps there were some delayed regional trains blocking these platforms so that you couldn't leave the Ronheider Rampe.
And years ago, with locomotive hauled international services, those platforms were where the locos were swapped, with the supply being switched over during that process. Also, before the Schengen Agreement, it was normal for the relevant passport control staff to work on board between there and Kōln to examine the various passengers en route.
The crime issue is very concerning especially for tourists who might be unaware of who,where or what is risky in the area.
So nice to see some Belgian representation in your video’s! 🎉
As one who very frequently goes to Brussels-Midi it's very nice to see your perspective of it. Also to my knowledge the high speed line between Leuven and Liege is usually NOT ran at 300km/h but at 250km/h, only in case of delays do they go to the maximum speed permitted. Regulations do change twice a year so I might be outdated
The DB BR 406 has a max speed of 250 on HSL/LGV 2, but the PBKA can go 300. I don't know if the BR 406 can go 260 on LGV/SFS 3, though.
Providing a Eurostar service quality and definition which is the same across all trains under the Eurostar banner is very important - come on Eurostar managers get it fixed quickly please
Why would they? They have a monopoly on every line except on the brussels to cologne line (all other lines have no alternatives or only much much slower ones.)
I loved the Spirit of Sunderland train.🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉❤
Really good German Pronunciation 👍
There should be at least a Eurostar train from London to Germany or there should be a night train from London via Brussels en Köln to Vienna and Berlin maybe 😊
Look like to be a very comfortable ride.
8:00 Leuven is personally my favourite Belgian city.🥰
Same! I recently visited there and loved it!
thanks for clearing up the confusing Eurostar naming nonsense. I'm taking the "eurostar" from Koln to Paris soon with a lot less stress now, so thanks!
No problem! It's a shame it's such a confusing mess, I have no idea why they did that...
Nice review of my depot station 😅. Mind you you’re PBKA isn’t modernised one. They are being modernised at the moment to the Ruby concept with a totally different interior and only vending machines instead of a manned bar
Oof the manned bar was something that imo made travelling unique.
@@duploman0003 Sadly, they haven't been staffed most of the time since the pandemic
Still, even those do not come close to the other eurostars (or germanies ice's) in level of comfort.
Brussels North has to be the sketchiest, and most uncomfortable, station I've ever been to. Be glad you could just roll through.
I took it yeasterday from Brussels to Amsterdam : it runs extremly slow. They permit to send me a mail 15 min before the arrival to inform me that our delay of 20 mins was perfectly normal, they informed me just at this moment of a change in the hour of arrival ! I didn't find it was an extremely pleasant journey, the trains are old.
There have been slow zones on the HSL Zuid in the Netherlands for the last weeks because of land movement around the tracks, therefore the slower speed there.
I am surprised you didn't mention plans to remove the café/bar car on all former Thalys trains (as part of a refurbishment programme which is in progress), to be replaced by vending machines. This seems an extraordinary decision, given how well used the café/bar car is in your video (and I find usually is on TGVs in France; I've only been on Thalys once so couldn't comment).
I hope Eurostar keeps the livery!
The TGV PBKA (and PBA) is so narrowly seated that anybody taller than 1,80 m is really having problems sitting. We always joked that Nicolas Sarkozy must have tested and chosen this narrow seating combination (fun fact: In Air France planes seating it's way narrower than e.g. KLM or Lufthansa also)
The seats are old and the suspensions are very worn out. I never liked to ride on the Thalys when I used to travel to Brussels frequently and was always happy to take the ICE (and even the IC directs from Amsterdam were way more comfortable yet way slower)...
I used to ride on TGVs (first series) between Dijon and Paris. I was always glad to change trains in Paris to a normal EC featuring Eurofima cars.
Same here, never liked the cramped Thalys seats. Compare that to Japanese Shinkansen and this feels claustrophobic. And yes, these trainsets are nearing their end of life. The TMST Eurostar sets were replaced after about 2 decades, so hopefully these will be replaced in the coming years as well. Also the only way to probably get rid of all that Thalys branding ;)
I agree with the seating space but in my opinion Alstom trains are way more comfortable and stable with their Jacobs bogies than the ICE and Siemens train. I always wish I travel on an Alstom train while going to London or Germany from Paris.
@@ottovonbismarck2443 Are Eurofima cars still in action today in France?
@@ottovonbismarck2443 france uses Corail cars
When traveling to/from Brussels always check if the train you're going to take doesn't stop at Brussel Centraal as well. It's a few hundred meters from the Grote Markt and generally much more pleasant than Brussel Zuid.
Fast trains usually only stop at Brussels South.
Great trip. I think they should learn from Airline mergers like Air France - KLM which they keep their own branding.
Thalys was a better name for years for the red high speed trains, greetings from Antwerp
座席がイラストで表示されててお洒落ですね。初めて知りました。
There is a restaurant we ate at twice right down from the Eurostar lounge. Best pasta carbonara I've ever had.
I traveled on Thalys last year from Liège to Paris. The seat is more comfortable that the seat on the TGV from Paris to Hendaye in south west France on the border to Spain. On or ride from Liège the Brussels South we had a 15 minute delay waiting to passe Leuven station. All through trains have to go through Leuven station, also the Thalys (Eurostar) en Intercity's. This causes congestion. I hope they will make a loop around Leuven sometime. I guess there will be some confusion for some time after the merging of Thalys and Eurostar. But eventually everyone will get used to the new situation.
oh yeah, the IC train to luxemburg is every hour most people forget about that train. also sncb is french, nmbs is dutch to be real. but well done for all the information
Great video, as always! Personally, I can't stand that red Thalys interior, and most of the ones I've been on were late. For style, it's the DB ICE for me, but they're often late also!
I also much prefer the DB ICE, but then I prefer that train to any other I have used! 😅
Yes unless you’re in the Eurostar loyalty program, a DB ICE would be more comfortable. And not a problem since you still have to change at Brussels if your destination is London. I wish DB would run their trains thru to London from Köln.
hahaha every time I’m in this station I get very confused at that “pasta way” place
DB takes you wherever you want to go.
Just don't expect to arrive on time.
Still a better service than FlexTrain.
I had the same problem with the window on the ICE too :)
It's so annoying! 😭
It's a typical winter problem, especially when it's been freezing, or when there was a lot of rain. A lot of dirt is blown up while running at high speed, and as a result these trains get dirty faster than other, slower trains. Given a very full schedule, there is not enough time to visit the train washing facilities more often.
@10:28 "expansive and expensive" ha ha. i guess that's better than being "restricted and expensive" !
8:57 You should remember that the GWR IET has some seats without a window at all.
This Is true as I have got on a IET and I saw a no window seat so plz change this LNER and GWR!
I once saw an ICE train going into the Channel Tunnel, 20 years ago.
When i was passing by in a local train.
What an awesome sighting!
I like the train, and Europe too! There is hardly a passenger train network in America. The train is better than flying and driving!
There are other problems with Eurostar ticketing in addition to those you mention in the video. One example is the difficulty of obtaining a seat if travelling with InterRail. The contingent is very small and it's as rare as a lottery win to find an available seat. Moreover, unlike other railways, Eurostar charges a whopping reservation fee for InterRailers - and not just for a journey from London to Köln, but for each train either side of the enforced break in Brussels. So a return journey will cost 4x reservation fees - last time I did this (October 2023, Berlin - Gloucester and return) that cost €120 on top of the InterRail ticket. Your ticket was substantially cheaper than the InterRail surcharge! A further problem is that Eurostar (and Thalys before the merger) cuts itself off from the rest of the European rail network, so through ticketing from e.g. Berlin to destinations involving a Eurostar journey is not possible. The result is that travel between Berlin and London with British Airways is substantially less expensive than the rail journey.
It is worth mentioning that there is another operator between Brussels and Köln, which is DB themselves using ICE trains. These call at Brussels North, which Eurostar does not, and by avoiding the Eurostar it is possible to purchase through tickets, something I have done many times on journeys between German and Belgian stations. If anyone has found more economical tickets on Eurostar, I should be happy to read about it in the commments here.
The split of Eurostar journeys at Brussels is due to restrictions imposed by the British government, which demands security and border controls, airlline-style, before boarding, for which dedicated terminals were constructed at Brussels South and Amsterdam Centraal but for which there is no space available in Köln Hauptbahnhof.
I love the trains over plains even though some can be slower than flying.
I was in Koln in July and hurt my back and ended up in a wheelchair and just could fly home, I had used the train before so although I knew it would take longer it certainly was easier and went well.
It would have been amazing if the change didn’t have to happen in MIDI so in real terms the merger is nothing as it’s the same, unless you can go direct from St P to Koln it’s not worth it, especially the wait at MIDI, as you have to book a big time space incase of delays,so it adds another 1.5 hours in the trip.
Direct is the way so ST P please to Koln fir Eurostar
Nice!😊 He went to my home country ( Belgium)🇧🇪 😊
Hello fellow Belgian! 🇧🇪
Belgium was sooooooooo pretty! It reminds me of Western Pennsylvania!
I was on the Thalys twice (Bruxelles-Cologne & Paris Nord - Düsseldorf) and it was ok. On my 2nd Journey (Paris - Düsseldorf) in the Premier Class it was realy nice and it was more better than the DB 1st Class
When I was a student at Bonn University (albeit some years ago now!) I used to
travel this route frequently, connecting in from the Oostende ferry service....
As much as I love trains, I found it slow and boring... was always glad to get to Cologne and better still..Bonn. This, though ,is obviously an improvement since I last travelled on this route..
I have only traveled once on Thalys from Cologne to Bruxelles-Midi and then with the Eurostar to London St. Pancras International. Travelling with 3 railway colleagues we booked 4 seats by a table on both trains. We were surprised by the lack of space for your legs on these 2 High speed trains. But then again we are all around 6 ft or taller 😎. But it was in 2009 so the carriages can have changed since then
They have not (and the few refurbished trains so far have more seats per car)
Pasta way💀💀
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I recently visited Belgium and I love the Brussels-South station! I took Eurostar to Paris and it was easily my best ever train journey. I hope to go back and visit Germany via Eurostar one day!
While aesthetically nice, it is not very good when you get your phone stolen though. It happened to me and as the video implies it is not uncommon.
My parents took us to Belgium in the mid 60s flying from Southend Airport to Ostend on a British United Carvair which also carried a couple of cars, converted DC6. At Ostend we caught a commuter train to Brussels, upright wooden bench seats 😮
Sadly I can't remember the journey from Coventry to Southend airport. Still steam around at that time but I have no memory of any traction this side. Loved the old trams in Brussels though. Characterless modern things now.
Trams are just brill
I think one of the reason you can't choose your seat in formerly Thalys trains is that these trains are now being fully refurbished with added seat capacity. The new refurbished trains are called "ruby". In the meantime, this means that you can travel with either a refurbished or not not-refurbished trains and I guess this is hard for Eurostar to predict with certainty which type of train one will get. It would be even more frustrating to choose a seat and then find out that you don't have the seat you selected because this train isn't the one that was planned to run.
Eurostar already has limited flexibility with their rolling stock as only PBKA trains (not PBA trains) can run in Germany for example.
And the former Thalys trains can't go into the channel tunnel because safety rules in the tunnel impose that trains are long enough so that you can reach the emergency galleries (located every 375 metres) from inside the train. Eurostar e320 (the blue ones) are 390 metres long whilst the PBA or PBKA are only 200 metres long.
Don't remind me about how awkward Old Thalys is to book, as I deal with it on a daily basis at work. Great video as usual though.
The former Thalys TGV sets are still wonderful trains. They ride superbly well, like all other TGVs, and seat comfort is outstanding. I don’t share your views about the alleged problems. Booking is easy on the new Eurostar site also.
Once the merger is fully complete ie same livery and single train type fleet it will get easier but I doubt cheaper.
The problem I found with Brussel Zuid was all the beggars. Last year one was even bothering me in the Tunnel security section. Given that's where you're separated from your valuables when they are in trays it was very concerning.
I agree and they are almost everywhere in Brussels😊
Brussels, especially around Brussels-South, is full of third world migrants that come to Belgium on purpose to beg or live off benefits. The local government doesn't care and since most of the residents of Brussels that can vote (i.e. are Belgian nationals) live far from the center, nobody does a thing.
Germans inveted in. 1930
The Schienenzeppelin at Erkrath, 1931 | Franz Jansen/Wikimedia Commons CC-BY-SA
Schienenzeppelin
In 1930 Franz Kruckenberg invented a revolutionary rail vehicle: a kind of zeppelin on wheels, made from lightweight aluminum, driven by an aircraft engine and a propeller. This futuristic manifestation set a world record with a speed of 230 km/h, only surpassed in 1954.
Even after some modifications the Schienenzeppelin was not suitable for regular service. No carriages could be attached, the propeller was dangerous and most tracks were not suitable for such high speeds. Consequently the Reichsbahn developed its own Schnelltriebwagen in 1932.
Thalys merging with ICE i find ok, or any highspeetrains within mainland Europe for that matter.
Eurostar name should imho be reserved for all the trainservices that go from mainland Europe directly to London as it is confusing right now.
Plus if you saw Thalys and Eurostar when booking for London, you knew you had to change at Brussels, while now it only says Eurostar and only fine print or if you fold out route, you see the change at Brussels mentioned.
Luggage theft is yet another reason to travel with a carry on.
o nice
FS ran another Eurostar in Italy called Eurostar Italia although I am not sure if they still use the brand.Yes the Gare du Midi is in a bit of a down at heel area and you have to be careful of pickpocketing.
Yes, one time the was an announcement that there pickpockets at the station 😊
Eurostar Italia disappeared in Dec '12, replaced by "Le Frecce": Frecciarossa. Frecciargento, Frecciabianca.
Frecciargento is slowly being merged with Frecciarossa, which is going to become the only one high-speed brand in Italy, once the ETR.485 will cease their regular service.
Frecciabianca is also going to disappear together with the formerly tilting trains ETR.460. The rest has already been merged with the InterCity category.
Boa tarde boa viagem ai
Still going to call them Eurostar Thalys to avoid confusion with the original Eurostar
At around the 12:31 mark, the ICE train that you pass is actually going in the opposite direction. If you pause the video, you will see the tail lights illuminated and not the headlights.
I suspect the teething troubles will resolve themselves eventually, because financially it would be ridiculous not to fix them! Seems to me it will open a lot of travel possibilities.... For instance, getting from London to my home in Warsaw by train is tough - Eurostar to Brussels, Thalys fromBrussels to Aachen, DB from Aachen to Berlin, then PKP from Berlin to Warsaw - when I did it a few years back anyway. An alternative service ran from Amsterdam to Aachen on NS, then as before. Took forever, and split ticketing a must because PKP remain stubbornly outside the European travel club. I would love to be able to combine the lot in a single ticket, especially with a return in the opposite direction in the same ticket purchase. Give it a couple of years and I strongly suspect that will be possible.....I can't wait!
Classe première is even so luxurious that people wear summer clothes and shorts...wheras outside it's winter... 😝
To Germany I always take the ICE. The Belgian railways are called NMBS in Dutch & SNCF in French.
Just out of interest, the "Head Cloth" you referred to is properly known as an "Antimacassar".
Macassar Oil was a hair oil used by gentleman in the Victorian era and the replaceable cloth was designed to keep the oil off furniture! 😉
I was going to call it that as I often do, but I thought it was too substantial to use that term. 😅
I'm a Thalys/"Red Eurostar" User since many years. My biggest problem with these trains is the lack of places: It's practically impossible to spontaneously take a weekend trip to Paris. Or a daytrip to the belgian Coast, when you see, tomorrow is the weather there fine. Nearly allways sold out...
Bangladesh next please❤❤❤
Your vids are amazing
Nice video and I am glad that this journey on ex-Thalis worked better for you than the last one from Paris. And I am kinda curious if DB goes through with their plans to run ICE-trains from Frankfurt a.M. and Cologne to London. They had similar plans back in 2013, which were blocked by the owner of the Eurotunnel. Which is why it fell flat. But they announced it again last year and the service might start during the next 5 years. It is helped by the fact that the new Eurostar-sets are Siemens Velaros, so basicly the same train as the ICE 3 Neo. Our host made videos about both trains in the past. It would be interesting to know how the would affect the "new Eurostar".
I hope this merger will be worth it in the future. Right now it's just confusing, but if they merge the systems further and start running trains from Germany to London, it'll be worth it.
I prefer the old service between Köln and Oostende, in the pre high speed train era.
You could hop on this hourly service without making a reservation.
There also was an hourly service between Köln and The Hague. Via Venlo, Eindhoven and Rotterdam.
But our governments need the money to spend on refugees and war instead of good services.
Imagine if Eurostar had high speed sleeper trains and had new services from London to Germany,Spain and Switzerland as well as many others
pasta way was hilarious
Interesting video, thanks. Since the merger is quite recent, we can hope that work is going on in the background to combine the systems of the previously two companies so we get a more consistent experience across the new wider Eurostar network. And since the company now has the running rights from London to Brussels and onwards on all the ex-Thalys routes, we can hope that maybe sometime in the future, with procurement of new trains (current Thalys sets can't go through the channel tunnel), we might even get through trains from London one day. There were, of course, plans to run through sleeper trains from various UK cities to many places in Europe, the sleeper coaches were actually built, but for many reasons, perhaps including a lack of political will to make it happen, it never did happen and the millions of pounds worth of sleeper coaches were sold off cheap to Canada.
Just after you say “We even pass one of the German ICE high speed trains” if you pause the video at around 12:31, you can see that the ICE train has it’s tail lights illuminated. It’s no wonder you passed it as it was going in the opposite direction.
Yeah except it's NOT a German Train though was it [DB] is German is the Dutch Railway provider.
I think the merger between eurostar and Thalys can make sense... But just printing eurostar on top of what used to spell Thalys and not unifying Terms of Service, Policies, Ticket classes as a part of that step seems like a strange decision. I would assume they will do that in the future. But imho they should have kept the branding separate until they were ready and had all preparations done to really provide seemless and uniform service and standards.
Pasta Way... a little Italian food for the recently departed or soon to be departed?
They should have lines from london to madrid or seville london to warsaw and more
GOOD
That ice is also operated by NS
10:30. EXPANSIVE and *EXPENSIVE.* A cool 🆒 combination of English words with just one 1️⃣ vowel difference.