thants for your story.

All the time I knew that ICE 14 ended in Aachen

There was no ICE crossing the belgium border the last 2 weeks :( (technical Problems with the ICE)

But all the time I was also afraid that the Thalys train would be full,
so in Nuernberg I asked in ticket office for reservation for THA,
but there they told me that this is not possible...

You can only travel with Thalys when you have a "Special Thalys Ticket"; that includes a resevation. So because nobody has a ticket without reservation, it is not sessesary (and not posible) to make a seperate reservation.

Fortunately in Koeln station gave me some woman from customer service staff advice that the last coach of THA is for people like me (for travellers by ICE to Belgium). From that time I was the happiest man... Thalys departed on time and we were going fast to Aachen. We went throught the border tunnel and THEN:

"due to technical problems in track our train will be re-routed"!!! FUCK
so the result was +30 min and I missed my Eurostar.

This (=Buschtunnel) ist no "bordertunnel". The border ist about 5 kilometers behind the tunnel.

Thalys has sometimes problems with ETCS which is nessesary for the LGV (highspeedtrack) between Aachen and Liège, so he will travel on the "old" route to Liège (30 minutes longer).

BUT: Thalys tuns the old track, ICE didnt run anyway ;))

But they booked me for the next train, but it was +2 hours of waiting. So I had some beers.
Finally, at 20:59 (London time), I reached London.

It could be worse last days, so this is not tooooo bad^^

Steffen

my journey on saturday 16.1.2010 was:

R350 (ALX 350) Prag - Nuernberg
ICE722 Nuernberg - Frankfurt(M) Hbf
ICE14 Frankfurt(M) Hbf - Koeln (should be to Bruxelles Midi)
THA9448 Koeln - Bruxelles Midi
EST Bruxelles Midi - London St Pancras at 19:59 (should be EST9153 at 17:59)

The journey to Frankfurt was already on time,
but then we had delay about 15 minutes due to technical problems on train set...

All the time I knew that ICE 14 ended in Aachen and If I took the connecting
trains (slow...) from Aachen to some belgium towns, then I would be late in Bruxelles for Eurostar, so I took Thalys as somebody (sorry) has mentioned here.

But all the time I was also afraid that the Thalys train would be full,
so in Nuernberg I asked in ticket office for reservation for THA,
but there they told me that this is not possible...
finally in Frankfurt they gave me Railtem stamp "Hop on the next train",
so I was happy.

But in my mind there was still one question about the compulsory reservation in Thalys and that the train could be full...

Fortunately in Koeln station gave me some woman from customer service staff advice that the last coach of THA is for people like me (for travellers by ICE to Belgium). From that time I was the happiest man... Thalys departed on time and we were going fast to Aachen. We went throught the border tunnel and THEN:

"due to technical problems in track our train will be re-routed"!!! FUCK
so the result was +30 min and I missed my Eurostar. But they booked me for the next train, but it was +2 hours of waiting. So I had some beers.
Finally, at 20:59 (London time), I reached London.

In summer I am plannig to go again if Deutsche Bahn will still have this offer - London Spezial.

Jan

Der Einzige heute...

Ich bin beeindruckt und beglückwünsche den Transportdienstleister Nr. 1 für diese spektakuläre Leistung.

Genialer Beitrag, dem ich nichts hinzuzufügen habe :D

Der Einzige heute...

Ich bin beeindruckt und beglückwünsche den Transportdienstleister Nr. 1 für diese spektakuläre Leistung.

ICE 121 verkehrte heute erst ab Emmerich -> IC-Ersatzzug bis Emmerich.
ICE 105 +10 in Köln
ICE 123 +40 in Köln; Tfz-Störung.
ICE 125 verkehrt nicht (jedenfalls nicht ab Utrecht, auch kein Ersatzzug)

ICE 129 nur AMS-K
ICE 227 soll normal fahren

ICE 328 +55 in Utrecht.
ICE 226 in Limburg Süd verendet.
ICE 128 soll normal fahren

ICE 124 soll normal gefahren sein
ICE 122 +10 in Arnhem ("hohe Streckenauslastung")
ICE 104 +10 in OB ("verspätete Bereitstellung"), durfte Tausch mit 129 gewesen sein.

Berlin-ICs:

IC 145 +190 in Stendal, Zug endet in Berlin (also nicht nach Stettin)
IC 147 +140 in Hannover ("Streckensperrung")
IC 149 +35 in Minden ("Verspätung aus vorheriger Fahrt")
IC 241 +35 in Hengelo ("Verspätung aus vorheriger Fahrt")
IC 243 soll normal fahren

IC 144 +70 in AMS Zuid ("Störung an einem Wagen", in NL kein Ersatzzug)
IC 142 +70 in Deventer ("Streckensperrung", in NL kein Ersatzzug)
IC 140 +5 in Minden ("hohe Streckenauslastung")

Im Falle Aachen-Brüssel nonstop haben die Umsteiger in Lüttich (nach Hasselt oder Charleroi-Bergen) ein Problem.
Und RE 29 verkehrt nur zweistündlich (OK, ist jedoch öfter als ICE aber nicht so oft wie ICE+THA).
Also wohl auch in Lüttich halten.

Haltestelle "Lüttich ICE-Bus" (Hersthal). Direkt an einer Autobahnabfahrt.

Wenn man auf Strassen über Liège-Guillemines fährt macht man einen riessigen Umweg.

Führt man nicht besser eine ICE-Bus-Verbindung Aachen-Brüssel ein, analog zu Nürnberg-Prag?

Wenn Nürnberg-Prag erst ein IC-Bus ist, wie soll denn ein ICE-Bus aussehen?
Ich stelle mich vor: dreiteiliger Doppelstockbus (also etwa wie die Busse in Utrecht aber dann Dosto).
Oberstock 2. Klasse.
Unterstock Sektion A 1. Klasse
Unterstock Sektion B einfaches Bistro
Unterstock Sektion C Mehrzweckbereich

Nürnberg-Prag wird nonstop gefahren.
Im Falle Aachen-Brüssel nonstop haben die Umsteiger in Lüttich (nach Hasselt oder Charleroi-Bergen) ein Problem.
Und RE 29 verkehrt nur zweistündlich (OK, ist jedoch öfter als ICE aber nicht so oft wie ICE+THA).
Also wohl auch in Lüttich halten.

Buskomfort ist besser als Bahnhofsvorplatzkomfort :\

Thalys ist besser als Buskomfort...

gruß,

Oscar (NL).

Nach Frankreich bekommt man es wohl in letzter Zeit auf die Reihe.

Ich war wohl wieder mal etwas zu voreilig: ICE 9556 ist in Kaiserslautern verendet...

Deswegen fällt auch ICE 9557 aus, zwischen Saarbrücken und Mannheim fährt IC 2825.

IC 2825 -> Ausfall
Es wird auf den Regionalverkehr verwiesen.

I know that you write it before - it was just confirmation...

Steffen wrote it ;)

Vielen Dank,
Jan aus Brno, CZ.

mfg Patrick

So I have bought the ticket from DB and in addition I should buy another one to Thalys and wait whether ICE 14 will be in operation... :-))

You can use the ICE-Ticket on Thalys if ICE does not run!

OK, so now seriously my last question:

I am sure that connection via regional trains is not usable for me (too slow).
So if my ICE 14 will be canceled then I am allowed to take Thalys???

Yes! Look at the fat sentence above.

Or should I buy just now the ticket for Thalys (even it could be late in Bruxelles-Midi)...?

No!

You can use the ICE-Ticket on Thalys if ICE does not run!

OK, so now seriously my last question:

I am sure that connection via regional trains is not usable for me (too slow).
So if my ICE 14 will be canceled then I am allowed to take Thalys???
Or should I buy just now the ticket for Thalys (even it could be late in Bruxelles-Midi)...?

Jan

So I have bought the ticket from DB and in addition I should buy another one to Thalys and wait whether ICE 14 will be in operation... :-))

You can use the ICE-Ticket on Thalys if ICE does not run!

But the problem is that I must take ICE 14 because
Thalys goes from Cologne at 15:44 and arrives to Bruxelles at 17:32
- and my Eurostar departure time is 17:59 - 30min check-in = 17:29

This ist no Problem if Thalys is in Time! But unfortunately he is often too late.

and previous Thalys (12:43-14:32) does not go on Saturday

Any idea please?...

Take regional Trains (Köln-Aachen, Aachen-Liège, Liège-Bruxelles)

Buskomfort ist besser als Bahnhofsvorplatzkomfort :\

There's the Thalys from Cologne to Paris, you can take this one to Bruxelles.

So I have bought the ticket from DB and in addition I should buy another one to Thalys and wait whether ICE 14 will be in operation... :-))

But the problem is that I must take ICE 14 because
Thalys goes from Cologne at 15:44 and arrives to Bruxelles at 17:32
- and my Eurostar departure time is 17:59 - 30min check-in = 17:29

and previous Thalys (12:43-14:32) does not go on Saturday

Any idea please?...
Jan

Hi,
could anybody explain me, why in these days terminate (mostly all) ICE International trains in Germany (in Aachen or in Koln)
and do not continue to Bruxelles-Midi?
(May be the answer is somewhere in this forum, but I am not so gut in German language, so I did not catch it.)

Only a few ICE are allowed to drive to Belgium.
If they are "out of order" (it's not unusually), the ICE to Bruxelles has to be cancelled.

And what about passengers who would like to continue to Belgium???
Are there any possibilities how to get to Bruxelles-Midi...
because if this situation will be on the next Saturday the same as now,
I will be experiencing problems: I have bought London-Spezial ticket...

There's the Thalys from Cologne to Paris, you can take this one to Bruxelles.

And what about passengers who would like to continue to Belgium???
Are there any possibilities how to get to Bruxelles-Midi...
because if this situation will be on the next Saturday the same as now,
I will be experiencing problems: I have bought London-Spezial ticket...

Danke fur Antworten.
Jan