Recent content by mad_rich

Pleased to report that ES have now refunded 50% of my fare, 10 days after I involved the Belgian Rail Ombudsman. I haven't received the Ombudsman's ruling yet, but there's no sign of any gesture of goodwill (I asked for a small gesture: partly as compensation for the hassle of chasing them up...

One of the problems of offering long, thin routes like this. You can't please all the passengers (and the operations team!) all of the time. I'm surprised they haven't brought it back yet. It was popular pre-Covid, filling 4 trains a week in high summer I think. Despite the Lille shuffle. As...

Fourth option would be the Intercité de Nuit to Nice, which calls at Marseille at ~0630. Which is best value depends on what prices you've found, coupled with considering Interrail as suggested above.

For a delay of 2h50, which qualifies for a 50% refund, they told me, on three different occasions: We don't have to pay because we arranged alternative transportation We don't have to pay because it was caused by circumstances out of our control We don't have to pay because we told you two days...

They did, to be fair. Although they only told us the new arrangements once we were already waiting on the platform (for the Railjet that we'd heard through the rumour mill would be the replacement). Nobody on the train knew anything. I'm still waiting for delay compensation. They've made three...

They won't get in touch, they won't offer alternative transport / accommodation, and they certainly won't proactively offer delay compensation or tell you your passenger rights. You'll have to pay for your own transport, then claim back from ES. Then if/ when ES go bust you'll have to claim it...

There's no harm in trying. It's one of the benefits of an Interrail pass. I've made plenty of connections that I wouldn't dream of trying normally (ie if there were financial consequences). Worst case, you get the later TER.

If you can build capacity at Stratford cheaper and / or better than St Pancras, that's why. Well connected by lots of lines that don't serve KXSP. If people want to be in St Pancras, they can be there in 6 minutes, as you say.

I think you can if you switch Southeastern services to P1&4, and use P2&3 as terminating platforms for a 200m train. Requires a lot of fitting out, but then so does bringing Stratford online. It also requires allowing 200m trains through the tunnel, which AFAIU isn't as forbidden as many people...

Ashford Borough Council making the case for bringing back international service, but I would think they're barking up the wrong tree lobbying the Government. Description: A Youtube video produced by the council, which includes Vox-pops from local business leaders and elected officials, making...

One rather annoying experience with Seatfrog was when I was bidding on an upgrade for a London-Newcastle journey for which I had a flexible ticket. Obviously, while my Seatfrog bid was 'active', the flexibilty of my ticket was nulled - I was effectively committed to the journey I'd bid on...

Indeed, the UK and Ireland is a bit of an anomaly as far is Interrail is concerned. GB is one territory and Ireland is another. It sort of makes sense from a geographical and administrative (RDG vs Translink) point of view, but it's odd that these are the only countries that are treated like this.

Carney would be mad not to call a snap election. Momentum is with the Liberals, and the ‘Maple Maga’ label on Pollievre is hitting home. He’s too Trumpy. Another reason is that it heads off the inevitable ‘Governor Carney is an unelected dictator’ jibe from south of the border. Either way, I...

I don't think that article tells us anything we don't know - except perhaps SBB reiterating that they're still keen. They just say they need a platform, not how they're going to achieve it. Interesting that they're open to using a secondary station in Geneva temporarily, while facilities are...

Eurostar says 75 minutes or 90 minutes sometimes. I was turned away at 70 minutes at Brussels because it was too early! I usually tend to aim for 45-60 minutes. 0559 sounds perfect. Obviously, I would also be wanting to know what options B and C are if your first train is cancelled.