Thanks for this Mark. I'm planning a trip in mid-October to Berlin and this is very helpful. As an aside I like the scene at 3:17 on where the gentleman is racing to get to his train, looking rather flustered, only to be held up by someone who obviously has plenty of time on their hands. I've been in both situations!
Great video. Looking forward to my trip from St. Pancras to Koln via Brussels, with 20 minute layover. Also took your suggestion and booked the new train service from Koln to Berlin - three times cheaper and four hours quicker! Many thanks.
Two small comments on the ICE3 (BR 403 and 406): only window seats have power outlets and there are always three compartments in first class (1 x 4 seats, 2 x 6 seats)
Made this trip at Easter. Had to wait eight hours in Brussels as one of the ICE trains was cancelled. My advice would be to take the Thalys option, or keep your options open.
If the ICE is cancelled, surely you just got your ticket stamped and hopped on the next Thalys train under the RAILTEAM PROMISE? See www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm#When_things_go_wrong
Yes it is, most of the time but not all. But are you really worried about missing the 21:19 and having to take the 21:49 instead. Or the 21:56 or the 22:19 or the 22:56...
As usual, good clear photography with no jerky camera movements, well edited so that you don't get 5 minutes watching a train crawl into the platform, and sensible captions to explain everything. Is there no table service to seats in 1st class ICE?
I took this trip a few months back and Brussels Midi had closed the short cut for connections with no real notice to the passengers. It was a bit of a trot but I made it to my connection. Do you know if this is permanently closed? Cheers.
Hey Mark, thanks for the video. I'm completely ignorant of train travel in Europe (American) except for some things I saw on your website. I'm planning on traveling from London to Oslo this summer (before medical school starts :)). Will I be able to stop at cities along the way using this mode of transportation or will that be really expensive? I assume I'll have to buy a new ticket each time, right? If so, is there an affordable mode of transportation that'll allow me to spend a few days in a couple of cities before arriving in Oslo?
rockediny get your dates and book your tickets online. If you can reserve tickets cheaper or look for special offers you can get really cheap tickets. I remember seeing London to Belgium, Paris singles for 25€
When will the ICE start running service from Cologne straight to London? For god sakes, its been four years. The safety training in the tunnel can't be taking this long. And besides, why should the ICE fail the safety tests in the tunnel?
L.S. Moto Christopher Mbolinani Not going to happen. DB has dropped the plan and halted it completely. Reason is that the fees for using the tracks in france have risen signifcantly since the original calculations were made and the profitability of the whole thing will have to be recalculated. And the other main reason for scrapping the plans were the british requirements of border and customs controls, which would have to be done before crossing the channel. Ridiculous... I always thought the UK was a part of Europe, but the british seem to have other ideas. These infos are from a german transportation journal (Feb 2014), so I don't think they are official. But it's not looking good. But what afaik is official, is that DB has not ordered any of their Velaro D trains with the optional packages required for operating in the UK, which could of course be retrofitted, but there seems to be no intention of doing that. The only positive thing: DB does have the permission the operate the trains in the channel tunnel. But they had that since June 2013...
The thing is that there are no problems with the training but the government of britain sais that trains have to have a certain length to cover two emergency exits in the tunnel. And such trains are not operatet by DB so far. I'm working as a traindriver between frankfurt and Paris so i think i can give you informations if there are new plans.
hi there, has anyone done this trip and bought the ticket directly from eurostar? When I click to purchase from eurostar it says once i arrive to brussels-midi/zuid i have 24hrs to to take any train from brussels-midi/zuid to dusseldorf. Have you heard of this before? This is what it says on eurostar's website: CONNECTION: Change in Cologne Hbf You can travel on any train displayed below on the day of your Eurostar journey. (Timetable is then displayed here)
Yes, that's how Eurostar's ticketing to Cologne works. Just hop on any German ICE (not Thalys) within 24h or arriving in Brussels, check train times using www.bahn.de/en
Great thank you! The latest train is at 18:25 leaving Brussels to Düsseldorf via ICE. I would be arriving in Brussels at 10am from London and was hoping to do a bit of sight seeing during those few hours before the last train to Düsseldorf. Do you think that is manageable ? I also wouldn't want to miss the last train there either! Thanks for your help :)
If I book with DB as early as now - Jan 9 and get a quotation of €259.80 for 2 first class tickets for London- Frankfurt ( Via Brussels), is it a good deal? Also, will there be meals on both trains-Eurostar & ICE? In my own estimate, if both trains will offer meals ( Bfast for EST & Lunch for ICE), then we will get the first class ticket. This is my first time to be on 1st class and its seems exciting! Mark, your opinion is highly appreciated. You're now our official Travel Consultant to everything we need to know about travel around Europe and beyond!
Norman Mendoza I don‘t know if it’s a good deal but I think the ICE looks better on the inside and sometimes they have lounges like back in the old days in the ICE 1
ICE 3 classes 403 and 406 (multi-current version shown in the video) are licensed to do 330 km/h. On german high speed lines, they only run at 300 km/h. On french lines (Stuttgart/Frankfurt-)Strasbourg - Paris Est, they are actually running 320 km/h, which are 200 mp/h. Same speed as the french TGV trains.
Thank you Mark. This will really save our bacon as we travel to Berlin for Christmas this year.
Thanks for this Mark. I'm planning a trip in mid-October to Berlin and this is very helpful. As an aside I like the scene at 3:17 on where the gentleman is racing to get to his train, looking rather flustered, only to be held up by someone who obviously has plenty of time on their hands. I've been in both situations!
Perfect timing. I'm doing this exact trip in September...had been hunting for something similar a few weeks ago, and decided to take a look again. :)
Great video. Looking forward to my trip from St. Pancras to Koln via Brussels, with 20 minute layover. Also took your suggestion and booked the new train service from Koln to Berlin - three times cheaper and four hours quicker! Many thanks.
i know I'm pretty randomly asking but does anyone know of a good site to stream new movies online?
@Bridger Cedric flixportal :)
@Santana Mordechai thank you, I went there and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :) I appreciate it!
@Bridger Cedric you are welcome =)
Went last week and it was closed! Eurostar was 1/2 hour late so we missed our connection anyway!
Two small comments on the ICE3 (BR 403 and 406): only window seats have power outlets and there are always three compartments in first class (1 x 4 seats, 2 x 6 seats)
Grerat video !!
Made this trip at Easter. Had to wait eight hours in Brussels as one of the ICE trains was cancelled. My advice would be to take the Thalys option, or keep your options open.
If the ICE is cancelled, surely you just got your ticket stamped and hopped on the next Thalys train under the RAILTEAM PROMISE? See www.seat61.com/Europe-train-travel.htm#When_things_go_wrong
Mark Smith Maybe with Rail team but not Eurostar. You choose either one or the other. They wouldn't let me travel on the Thalys train.
If the ICE is cancelled you get your ticket stamped and Hop On The Next Train, even if that's a Thalys. That's the Rail team promise.
ta400 there is an ICE departing brussels at least every 2 hours. not to mention that you can use any train when your train got canceled.
That is not even possible
Nice video!Thumbs up!
Do you know if this short cut is still in use? We are arriving 9.13pm and our connection to Antwerp is at 9.19pm. worried we won't make it.
Yes it is, most of the time but not all. But are you really worried about missing the 21:19 and having to take the 21:49 instead. Or the 21:56 or the 22:19 or the 22:56...
As usual, good clear photography with no jerky camera movements, well edited so that you don't get 5 minutes watching a train crawl into the platform, and sensible captions to explain everything. Is there no table service to seats in 1st class ICE?
Graeme Durie There is
Thanks - not clear on the video.
ICE /Intercity express😉
I took this trip a few months back and Brussels Midi had closed the short cut for connections with no real notice to the passengers. It was a bit of a trot but I made it to my connection. Do you know if this is permanently closed? Cheers.
Nice vid, thanks!
Hey Mark, thanks for the video. I'm completely ignorant of train travel in Europe (American) except for some things I saw on your website. I'm planning on traveling from London to Oslo this summer (before medical school starts :)). Will I be able to stop at cities along the way using this mode of transportation or will that be really expensive? I assume I'll have to buy a new ticket each time, right? If so, is there an affordable mode of transportation that'll allow me to spend a few days in a couple of cities before arriving in Oslo?
rockediny get your dates and book your tickets online. If you can reserve tickets cheaper or look for special offers you can get really cheap tickets. I remember seeing London to Belgium, Paris singles for 25€
Very good view
Great stuff. Still audio clicking in some of this piece...
What if I am a HongKong Chinese, taking this train, how much does it costs? thanks
When will the ICE start running service from Cologne straight to London? For god sakes, its been four years. The safety training in the tunnel can't be taking this long. And besides, why should the ICE fail the safety tests in the tunnel?
L.S. Moto Christopher Mbolinani Not going to happen. DB has dropped the plan and halted it completely. Reason is that the fees for using the tracks in france have risen signifcantly since the original calculations were made and the profitability of the whole thing will have to be recalculated. And the other main reason for scrapping the plans were the british requirements of border and customs controls, which would have to be done before crossing the channel. Ridiculous... I always thought the UK was a part of Europe, but the british seem to have other ideas.
These infos are from a german transportation journal (Feb 2014), so I don't think they are official. But it's not looking good.
But what afaik is official, is that DB has not ordered any of their Velaro D trains with the optional packages required for operating in the UK, which could of course be retrofitted, but there seems to be no intention of doing that.
The only positive thing: DB does have the permission the operate the trains in the channel tunnel. But they had that since June 2013...
The thing is that there are no problems with the training but the government of britain sais that trains have to have a certain length to cover two emergency exits in the tunnel. And such trains are not operatet by DB so far. I'm working as a traindriver between frankfurt and Paris so i think i can give you informations if there are new plans.
morbvsclz Well, you certainly weren't wrong about the Brits having other ideas about being in Europe
+Deculdin I doubt DB will introduce them now, especially with Eurostar now running direct London to Amsterdam services
Brexit not making it better
1:42 is the DB ICE 3 or something...
Yes
Grüße aus Düsseldorf Deutschland!
The meal at 3:03. I would like to have that one.
Ich spreche ein wenig Deutsch, doch ich habe das Meiste gelernt von Rammstein!
hi there, has anyone done this trip and bought the ticket directly from eurostar? When I click to purchase from eurostar it says once i arrive to brussels-midi/zuid i have 24hrs to to take any train from brussels-midi/zuid to dusseldorf. Have you heard of this before?
This is what it says on eurostar's website:
CONNECTION: Change in Cologne Hbf
You can travel on any train displayed below on the day of your Eurostar journey.
(Timetable is then displayed here)
Yes, that's how Eurostar's ticketing to Cologne works. Just hop on any German ICE (not Thalys) within 24h or arriving in Brussels, check train times using www.bahn.de/en
Great thank you! The latest train is at 18:25 leaving Brussels to Düsseldorf via ICE. I would be arriving in Brussels at 10am from London and was hoping to do a bit of sight seeing during those few hours before the last train to Düsseldorf. Do you think that is manageable ? I also wouldn't want to miss the last train there either! Thanks for your help :)
How long did the ride take actually? From London to Cologne.
they have full details on the seat61.com website, with other travel options, prices, where to buy etc
Decidement , tout semble parfait , pour nos amis Europeens Congratulation...pour les efforts et les reves de trois generations....
LSBonnPower , the ICE will start the service in 2016
Christopher Mbolinani Lets hope they will keep the deadline this time. Once it starts running, I will go on it and visit London for the first time :)
Nevermind
If I book with DB as early as now - Jan 9 and get a quotation of €259.80 for 2 first class tickets for London- Frankfurt ( Via Brussels), is it a good deal? Also, will there be meals on both trains-Eurostar & ICE? In my own estimate, if both trains will offer meals ( Bfast for EST & Lunch for ICE), then we will get the first class ticket. This is my first time to be on 1st class and its seems exciting! Mark, your opinion is highly appreciated. You're now our official Travel Consultant to everything we need to know about travel around Europe and beyond!
Norman Mendoza I don‘t know if it’s a good deal but I think the ICE looks better on the inside and sometimes they have lounges like back in the old days in the ICE 1
What is average speed????
How long does it take to get from London to Frankfurt by train ?
barticus04 around five hours if you have a good connection, I'd say
Thanks!
Sure it’s not 200mph for the ICE 3
ICE 3 classes 403 and 406 (multi-current version shown in the video) are licensed to do 330 km/h. On german high speed lines, they only run at 300 km/h. On french lines (Stuttgart/Frankfurt-)Strasbourg - Paris Est, they are actually running 320 km/h, which are 200 mp/h. Same speed as the french TGV trains.
3:03 I can do a better stew than that
@PewDiePie
Lol