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Amsterdam Eurostar

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Birkonian

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I've been through the ticket barrier, luggage scan and customs at St. Pancras in 5 minutes. The longest it has ever taken me is 25 minutes. 10 - 15 minutes is typical. Brussels is usually quicker than London.

Seats have more legroom than a Pendolino and you can choose where to sit. £90 return, £70 for Amsterdam.

For me it is 1½ hours to Lille or 2 hours to Brussels. Add ½ hour and I've checked in to my hotel and on the way to a bar.

So the problem with Eurostar is?
 
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DavidGrain

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I know Ebbsfleet exists because I was once on a train that stopped there. I also once met the Bishop of Ebbsfleet but he lives in Reading.

My question is. Does Ebbsfleet have enough trade to exist as a station on the Eurostar?
 

Ianno87

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I know Ebbsfleet exists because I was once on a train that stopped there. I also once met the Bishop of Ebbsfleet but he lives in Reading.

My question is. Does Ebbsfleet have enough trade to exist as a station on the Eurostar?

Well, Eurostar have stopped there for the last 10 years (as of in a week and a half's time) at entirely their commercial discretion, so must stack up financially for them.
 

D6700

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I was recounting my expereince of my journey. I don't care if you think it's useless or not, you mentioned it with regards to the experience I posted. There is no reason why the Eurostar wesbite couldn't sell this ticket other than their decision not to.

I'll be honest here, I don't think you've been comprehending anme's posts, due to you being somewhat wound up following your disppointing experience.

For what it's worth, Eurostar do offer tickets from London to Cologne...
 

eastwestdivide

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I know Ebbsfleet exists because I was once on a train that stopped there. I also once met the Bishop of Ebbsfleet but he lives in Reading.

My question is. Does Ebbsfleet have enough trade to exist as a station on the Eurostar?
I've used Ebbsfleet numerous times for Eurostar, and there's normally something like 50-100 passengers each time. Would be interesting to ask if those passengers would have travelled via London, flown or not travelled at all if Ebbsfleet/Ashford wasn't available.
 

404250

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Does anyone know why the Eurostar website is showing no morning trains to Amsterdam from start of April? That means there are no Saturday trains listed and just 1 a day on other days (late departures). It was showing 3 a day on weekdays from April when I looked a few weeks ago.
 

AlexNL

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Maybe timetables haven't been confirmed yet, and Eurostar have closed sales for those trains until they are.
 

MisterT

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The third train will run from June 2019, not April. So when you see three trains from April, you know for sure that the timetable information is still incorrect for that day.
 

404250

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Ah right. Bit of a mess up on their part then. I wonder how many people booked non running trains. Must be losing customers wanting to book morning trains in April that aren't listed now.
 

RT4038

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I have had to queue out of the doors, but this is not the queue for security. It is the queue for check in. You can argue whether that's a significant difference. I agree that queuing out of the doors looks bad, but the queue moves quickly and it's not a serious problem in reality. Normally the queue snakes to the left, so it doesn't interfere with other station traffic.

No, I have never had to queue to leave the train (except for the one time there was a passport check on arrival at St Pancras). I'm not saying you didn't, but it's certainly not a typical experience - which is more useful to someone else reading the thread.

I agree that these points should be improved, but the level of unhappiness on this thread seems over the top to me, and not very helpful anyone wanting a typical impression of the service.

I have traveled E* many, many times, in both old and new trains, and would have to agree with you that the level of unhappiness on this thread certainly does not generally correspond with my experiences. Have all the things mentioned happened to me? Yes, and so have they on UK domestic trains and plenty of foreign trains too. Have I had plenty of good E* experiences? Yes. Of course, if you think that E* is going to be a special Pullman type experience, and the staff more attentive than a normal inter city train, you are going to be disappointed. if you think that entering and leaving the stations is going to the same or better than a UK domestic journey, you are going to be disappointed. Such is the nature of the beast.
 

LeeLivery

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I quite like the 374s. Find the MK3s to be worse on the Midland tbh.

There is no Amsterdam to London train?

As for the queue, it was so long that it stretched out of the doors marked 'Channel Terminal' and all the way across the thoroughfare and down the corridor opposite past the money exchange desk. This obviously meant queuing was coming into conflict with everyone using that entrance to the station, which was a very large number of people.

You've never had to queue out of the doors? Well, lucky for you then. You've never had to queue to leave the train in London? How nice. I take the view that given the very expensive standard ticket I bought, both are very sub-par.

Indeed; in that direction you have to change.

There are other "through" trains to London where everyone has to get off & on, though I think this happens at Lille.

And the Eurostar representative said this is "normal"!

It's very unprofessional to ask people to queue right in the way of an entrance, and not nice for people both in the queue and trying to get past it.

It must be quite normal, it was like this yesterday too. It's reasonably quick to get through but the line was so long it got to the travel money desk, then curved round to the walkway towards the other platforms/concourse.
 

Starmill

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if you think that entering and leaving the stations is going to the same or better than a UK domestic journey, you are going to be disappointed. Such is the nature of the beast.
To be fair I think this is key to my experience. My expectations had been set by other members of this forum who always draw a comparison with Eurostar or other international railways as one that is not just better but significantly better than a domestic UK intercity journey. There is a definite sense from certain members and friends of mine that they will always frame Eurostar or other international railway comparisons to say that they UK experience is significantly below par, and therefore this creates a big gap between anticipation and reality. In addition there was the matter of price, I paid about £55 for a single and that was at least triple what I would usually pay for travelling the same distance in Standard domestically. I considered that cheap because I was expecting something of a much higher standard than usual. I now realise that these expectations were unrealistic.

Of course, the benefit of this is that I am now far better prepared to offset the criticisms of British railway journeys that people often use exaggerated international comparisons to effect.
 
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MotCO

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Well, Eurostar have stopped there for the last 10 years (as of in a week and a half's time) at entirely their commercial discretion, so must stack up financially for them.

Is joining a train at Ebbsleet a more pleasant experience than joining the long queues at St Pancras reported above?
 

Mag_seven

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When are they going to get the return E* from Amsterdam TO London sorted? Its a bit of a farce you can go one way but not the other.
 

AlexNL

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When are they going to get the return E* from Amsterdam TO London sorted?
That will probably take until 2020, because all sorts of agreements have to be reached between The Netherlands, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom.
 

bunnahabhain

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To be fair I think this is key to my experience. My expectations has been set by other members of this forum who always draw a comparison with Eurostar or other international railways as one that is not just better but significantly better than a domestic UK intercity journey. There is a definite sense from certain members and friends of mine that they will always frame Eurostar or other international railway comparisons to say that they UK experience is significantly below par, and therefore this creates a big gap between anticipation and reality. In addition there was the matter of price, I paid about £55 for a single and that was at least triple what I would usually pay for travelling the same distance in Standard domestically. I considered that cheap because I was expecting something of a much higher standard than usual. If course I now realise that these expectations were unrealistic.

Of course, the benefit of this is that I am now far better prepared to offset the criticisms of British railway journeys that people often use exaggerated international comparisons to effect.
Eurostar are good at what they do but some aspects do fall well short and that is probably down to them having a lions share of traffic between the three capitals. It isn't really hugely different to offerings provided by LNER, the Marseille train and the Highland Chieftain have similar journey times, you get fed twice on both, and I daresay LNER are far more generous when it comes to the heavy drinks and the number of times they come around, I think last time we went to Inverness I had about twelve glasses of wine, and gin at other times too, with Eurostar you do get a nice miniature wine or two if lucky, but that's about it.

There are good aspects with all operators, I was discussing this with a senior manager recently who was impressed with LNERs offering but felt they didn't come around as often as she would have preferred, which she felt we did well with our TOC.
 

RT4038

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To be fair I think this is key to my experience. My expectations has been set by other members of this forum who always draw a comparison with Eurostar or other international railways as one that is not just better but significantly better than a domestic UK intercity journey. There is a definite sense from certain members and friends of mine that they will always frame Eurostar or other international railway comparisons to say that they UK experience is significantly below par, and therefore this creates a big gap between anticipation and reality. In addition there was the matter of price, I paid about £55 for a single and that was at least triple what I would usually pay for travelling the same distance in Standard domestically. I considered that cheap because I was expecting something of a much higher standard than usual. If course I now realise that these expectations were unrealistic.

Of course, the benefit of this is that I am now far better prepared to offset the criticisms of British railway journeys that people often use exaggerated international comparisons to effect.

I think many people on this forum using E* are travelling on their holidays, and have a rose tinted expectation of trains of 'La belle epoch'. But E* is nothing of the sort. It is really nothing special, just an ordinary high speed train, similar to those found on domestic lines in this country and over much of Western Europe, but with the complication of security and immigration procedures. The fares are high, but this does not reflect better service than domestic trains, but the extra costs of unsubsidised track access charges, a high 'per passenger' Channel Tunnel passage charge, extra security and border control costs that are passed onto passengers.
 

Starmill

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I think many people on this forum using E* are travelling on their holidays, and have a rose tinted expectation of trains of 'La belle epoch'.
Dissappointingly, I think this plays its part.
The fares are high, but this does not reflect better service than domestic trains
I think this is a crucial point which I can see much more clearly now, and probably not something that could be appreciated other than by actually using their service. Of course, there are occasional bargains to be had by Eurostar but unless you are going to Amsterdam they seem relatively to put forward relatively little in the way of discounts, offers or bargain fares.
 

cle

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I think many people on this forum using E* are travelling on their holidays, and have a rose tinted expectation of trains of 'La belle epoch'. But E* is nothing of the sort. It is really nothing special, just an ordinary high speed train, similar to those found on domestic lines in this country and over much of Western Europe, but with the complication of security and immigration procedures. The fares are high, but this does not reflect better service than domestic trains, but the extra costs of unsubsidised track access charges, a high 'per passenger' Channel Tunnel passage charge, extra security and border control costs that are passed onto passengers.

The perception is one of glamour and so forth - rightly using in marketing and so on. And yes, sometimes stepping off the train in Paris can feel magical. Centraal station too. Brussels, less so...

But the reality is a fairly uneventful 2 hour train journey, same as Manchester or Leeds - which many do daily or weekly, and needs to run on time above all else.
 

bunnahabhain

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Fair play!

Off topic, but I wonder if there is a forum record for quantity of free ‘refreshment’ imbibed on the Chieftain?
Dunno, the one time I got upgraded to Business Prem on Eurostar I made good use of the champagne as it was more or less on tap. A mate from work regularly tells them to just leave the bottle with him.
 

Goldfish62

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There is a lot of hyperbole in this thread.

I have used Eurostar regularly since its introduction, and currently make 5-10 return journeys per year in standard class (and very occasionally, standard premier or business). I am also a regular business and leisure traveller by air. Let me give a realistic perspective.

Queuing and immigration:
- You may have to queue at busy times, but I have never been close to missing a train (as claimed by someone above) even arriving rather less than 45 minutes in advance.
- All security and immigration formalities are dealt with at the departure station. This does mean you may have to queue multiple times before getting on the train, but this would be wasted time sitting in the (not very nice) departure areas anyway, so is no great hardship. Typically all queuing takes less than ten minutes, although it can be more at busy times.
- There are normally no immigration checks on arrival, and you will walk straight out of the station in a few minutes. At St Pancras (but not in Brussels or Paris) it is possible that you may be checked again. This has happened to me once since Eurostar moved to St Pancras in 2007, and that was at least five years ago. I haven't heard of it happening recently and you would be unlucky to encounter it. Unless there is an immigration check, I have never experienced queuing to leave a Eurostar train.
- Claims that security queues in Brussels were "very very long" don't match my experience. This might be true for the train from Amsterdam to London where everyone has to get off and be checked. However, this is a temporary problem and will be solved when the new facilities are available in the Netherlands.

Trains:
- I tend to agree that the unrefurbished old trains are nicer, but that's because I prefer the colour scheme and lighting.
- The seats are similar to other Intercity trains in the UK. The airline seats have similar or slightly better legroom. Legroom at the table seats is not good indeed and I avoid them unless I am in a group. Both old and new trains are more comfortable and spacious than a Virgin Voyager or a Pendolino.
- I haven't experienced problems with the toilets.
- The ride of the new trains is hardly that bad. I even like it! I am mystified by claims that the new trains are noisy.
- The buffet is a bit disappointing and expensive. Bring your own.
- I haven't tried the wifi since roaming became free within the EU. Phones work well for most of the journey, including the tunnel.
- I agree that it's not nice to be sat next to a pillar instead of a window (it's common on trains in the UK too). I recommend booking on the Eurostar website, where you can select your own seat. The process is a bit strange - you can change your seat after the ticket is issued, but it works and the seating plans are accurate. Thanks to this, I haven't sat next to a pillar for years.

Prices:
- Eurostar uses the same pricing model as airlines and other long distance rail operators. Prices vary from very cheap to very expensive. I don't like it either but that's how the world works. At least there are no extra fees for luggage, "priority boarding", etc.

Timetables:
- Whether Eurostar is faster or slower than flying depends on the exact journey you are making, and when you want to travel.

Staff:
- I have never had problems with Eurostar staff. During a normal journey you're not likely to speak to them anyway.

General:
- It's a train service. It's a fast and efficient way to get between London, Paris and Brussels, and maybe beyond. It is not the Orient Express. Its competition is largely the airlines, which hardly set a high standard for customer experience. Set your expectations accordingly.

I'm happy to answer any questions people have about the service, based on my experience.
Based on my fairly frequent travels I would agree with your overview.
 

paul1609

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I've used Ebbsfleet numerous times for Eurostar, and there's normally something like 50-100 passengers each time. Would be interesting to ask if those passengers would have travelled via London, flown or not travelled at all if Ebbsfleet/Ashford wasn't available.
If Ashford wasn't available I'd drive to Brussels or Paris
 

Birkonian

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Does anyone know why the Eurostar website is showing no morning trains to Amsterdam from start of April? That means there are no Saturday trains listed and just 1 a day on other days (late departures). It was showing 3 a day on weekdays from April when I looked a few weeks ago.

I'm booked on the 07:16 from London to Amsterdam on 19th April.

BTW it could be that the £35 single fare is no more. I've seen an online advert for that fare that states 'Offer ends 20th November.'
 

sprunt

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I travelled to Rotterdam on the morning train on Monday. There was virtually no queue when I arrived - I was through the check in almost immediately, and I spent maybe 5 minutes waiting to go through security - despite the short queue they opened a couple more scanners to get us through.

I was unimpressed by the facilities "airside" - a coffee shop and a bar (doing breakfast foods), both with long queues, and a pointless little duty free/newsagent shop that was neither one thing nor the other - it would have been better just using the whole space for a WH Smith.

The actual journey was fine, except for one thing - the train seemed very cold.
 

tasky

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The main bottleneck boarding the Eurostar at Brussels Midi is Belgian exit passport control. Everyone races through the automatic check-in gates, the security check is all very efficient... then often you queue for 10-15 minutes at Belgian passport control, usually not using all the available booths. Then you have the UK entry check straight after, which takes 45 seconds with the automatic passport gates.

That said, I use the service in both directions about twice a month and sometimes you can just walk straight through. The queues are never a problem and I usually only leave about 20 minutes to board, and tend to be left waiting in the holding area for a bit too.

Also, it's worth saying you'll never miss a train because of the queues. Remember that everyone in the queue at Brussels and Paris is getting the same train - its not unheard of for them to hold the service by 5 minutes with the announced reason 'due to delays at passport control' or something to that effect until there is no one left. In London there are people for different trains in the same queue but they will usher you to the front if you are about to leave.

I think overall the service is generally excellent, with the exception that the waiting area at St Pancras is far over capacity and at busy times, and the waiting area in Gare Midi has a very weak selection of sandwiches or food.

I like both the refurbished and new trains, though I prefer the refurbished ones as they don't have televisions screens in the roof pumping out adverts for Eurostar (Why? I've clearly already bought a ticket)
 

jellybaby

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Also, it's worth saying you'll never miss a train because of the queues. Remember that everyone in the queue at Brussels and Paris is getting the same train
That's something that annoys me about Eurostar at Brussels/Paris. If I'm early I want to go through security and passport control and sit down in the departure lounge now, not have to wait for the previous train to leave first.
 
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