I recently travelled from London to Astana (aka "Nur-Sultan") in Kazakhstan by train. I visit Kazakhstan every year as it's where my other half is originally from - this time I was able to find a combination of rail tickets that was of comparable cost to a plane ticket, but due to work commitments it was a fairly direct trip without much stopping along the way. I thought it'd be worth documenting here both for myself and anyone else that's interested.
Day One
London St Pancras, UK to Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
The first day of my trip was to take me across Western Europe, mostly by high speed train to the border between Germany and Poland on the Oder river. I had a fairly tight schedule with short connections at several locations, but with the reassurance that on each leg of the journey there were later connections so very little risk in not making it to Frankfurt (Oder) by the end of the day. I bought a DB Sparpreis Europa ticket a few weeks before my journey which meant the whole days travelling would cost a little over €100.
London St Pancras 08:54 – 12:05 Brussels Midi
I live in London, so it was fairly easy to get across to St Pancras for my train to Brussels. The train departed and arrived on time - I was happy with the efficient journey. I travelled at the rear of the train and at Brussels Midi was disappointed that the escalator down to the "inter-connection" passage was cordoned off - the lift however was in-use with only one person inside it, so I joined them and got down to the inter-connection passage and across to platform 6 for my next train with plenty of time to spare.
Brussels Midi 12:25 – 14:15 Cologne Hbf
My booked seat in the ICE3 was at the front, right behind the semi-transparent screen that separates the cabin from the drivers cab. My train was lightly loaded and I enjoyed the drivers eye view as we sped towards Liege, on to Aachen then slowed down for the section of the journey to Cologne where the tracks are shared with the inter-regional trains. We pulled into Cologne Hbf on time and I took a quick look at the platform for my next train before popping out of the station to get a look at the famous "Dom" (cathedral) visible a right outside.
Cologne Hbf 14:48 – 19:05 Berlin Hbf
Back inside Cologne Hbf after my brief connection, to take my final "high speed" train of the journey - although the section from Cologne through to Bielefeld is far from fast as it passes through the congested tracks of Germany's industrial heartland skirting the edge of Dusseldorf and Dortmund along the way. The train passed Wuppertal where the suspension railway was still out of action (I've since heard it started running again in early August). Again the train ran to time and I got into Berlin Hbf on time, although my scheduled connection directly on to Frankfurt (Oder) was unavailable due to engineering work.
Berlin Hbf 19:15 – 20:00 Erkner
Due to the engineering work in the suburbs of eastern Berlin, I needed to take an S-Bahn to the final stop of S3 at Erkner where the train to Frankfurt (Oder) was starting from. Berlin Hbf is a beautiful multi-level station and I crossed to the top level for the S-Bahn, getting a good look along the way at the Berlin Night Express seasonal sleeper train about to depart to Malmo, Sweden. The S-Bahn was pretty busy, but it was a sunny evening and a good way to get a look at parts of Berlin I'd otherwise be unlikely to see.
Erkner 20:24 – 21:04 Frankfurt (Oder)
At Erkner a large number of people from the S-Bahn walked across to the mainline platforms, located separately to the S-Bahn. I checked with one of them and he confirmed it was the right place for the train to Frankfurt (Oder). We were already in the countryside setting off from Erkner and didn't pass through any substantial towns on the way to Frankfurt (Oder), although at Fürstenwalde (Spree) there was a branch line train waiting in a side platform. Frankfurt (Oder) was a larger station than I'd expected - probably in recognition as its former status as a significant border stop between DDR (East Germany) and Poland. There was a black tank engine sitting on the tracks just outside the station.
I had a simple hotel booked in Frankfurt (Oder), directly across from the train station. Although I'd originally planned to take the 20mins walk over the Oder to the neighbouring town in Poland I decided to defer that to the morning and get some food close to the hotel.
I'd travelled 1,009km as the crow flies, still 3,815km from Astana. After the business-like trains from the first day, I was looking forward to moving on into Eastern Europe and experiencing PKP (Poland) and RZD (Russian) trains the next day...
Day One
London St Pancras, UK to Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
The first day of my trip was to take me across Western Europe, mostly by high speed train to the border between Germany and Poland on the Oder river. I had a fairly tight schedule with short connections at several locations, but with the reassurance that on each leg of the journey there were later connections so very little risk in not making it to Frankfurt (Oder) by the end of the day. I bought a DB Sparpreis Europa ticket a few weeks before my journey which meant the whole days travelling would cost a little over €100.
London St Pancras 08:54 – 12:05 Brussels Midi
I live in London, so it was fairly easy to get across to St Pancras for my train to Brussels. The train departed and arrived on time - I was happy with the efficient journey. I travelled at the rear of the train and at Brussels Midi was disappointed that the escalator down to the "inter-connection" passage was cordoned off - the lift however was in-use with only one person inside it, so I joined them and got down to the inter-connection passage and across to platform 6 for my next train with plenty of time to spare.
Brussels Midi 12:25 – 14:15 Cologne Hbf
My booked seat in the ICE3 was at the front, right behind the semi-transparent screen that separates the cabin from the drivers cab. My train was lightly loaded and I enjoyed the drivers eye view as we sped towards Liege, on to Aachen then slowed down for the section of the journey to Cologne where the tracks are shared with the inter-regional trains. We pulled into Cologne Hbf on time and I took a quick look at the platform for my next train before popping out of the station to get a look at the famous "Dom" (cathedral) visible a right outside.
Cologne Hbf 14:48 – 19:05 Berlin Hbf
Back inside Cologne Hbf after my brief connection, to take my final "high speed" train of the journey - although the section from Cologne through to Bielefeld is far from fast as it passes through the congested tracks of Germany's industrial heartland skirting the edge of Dusseldorf and Dortmund along the way. The train passed Wuppertal where the suspension railway was still out of action (I've since heard it started running again in early August). Again the train ran to time and I got into Berlin Hbf on time, although my scheduled connection directly on to Frankfurt (Oder) was unavailable due to engineering work.
Berlin Hbf 19:15 – 20:00 Erkner
Due to the engineering work in the suburbs of eastern Berlin, I needed to take an S-Bahn to the final stop of S3 at Erkner where the train to Frankfurt (Oder) was starting from. Berlin Hbf is a beautiful multi-level station and I crossed to the top level for the S-Bahn, getting a good look along the way at the Berlin Night Express seasonal sleeper train about to depart to Malmo, Sweden. The S-Bahn was pretty busy, but it was a sunny evening and a good way to get a look at parts of Berlin I'd otherwise be unlikely to see.
Erkner 20:24 – 21:04 Frankfurt (Oder)
At Erkner a large number of people from the S-Bahn walked across to the mainline platforms, located separately to the S-Bahn. I checked with one of them and he confirmed it was the right place for the train to Frankfurt (Oder). We were already in the countryside setting off from Erkner and didn't pass through any substantial towns on the way to Frankfurt (Oder), although at Fürstenwalde (Spree) there was a branch line train waiting in a side platform. Frankfurt (Oder) was a larger station than I'd expected - probably in recognition as its former status as a significant border stop between DDR (East Germany) and Poland. There was a black tank engine sitting on the tracks just outside the station.
I had a simple hotel booked in Frankfurt (Oder), directly across from the train station. Although I'd originally planned to take the 20mins walk over the Oder to the neighbouring town in Poland I decided to defer that to the morning and get some food close to the hotel.
I'd travelled 1,009km as the crow flies, still 3,815km from Astana. After the business-like trains from the first day, I was looking forward to moving on into Eastern Europe and experiencing PKP (Poland) and RZD (Russian) trains the next day...
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