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Amsterdam Eurostar
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Just to clarify:
Did you have to scan the barcode (i.e. a 'closed' gate station)?
Was it at Rotterdam Centraal?
Was it a Eurostar ticket?
Thanks
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Why? It's a great deal easier to change in Lille or Brussels than to go from Kent into London and out again.
AlexNL
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You can leave at Rotterdam with an Amsterdam ticket, yes.
YorkshireBear
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Ah well. I won't mention it to the rest of the party that it might now be avaliable just stick to early start.
YorkshireBear
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Ah well. I won't mention it to the rest of the party that it might now be avaliable just stick to early start.
Maybe they want to 'encourage' Brussels passengers not to consume space on Amsterdam trains (with wasted space Brussels-Amsterdam), until Brussels trains have filled up.
Entirely reasonable.
It's simply market-based pricing. It's the same as operators in the UK charging fares which are not based on distance.
Not quite. I can't recall UK operators effectively removing a stop from the timetable and then reinstating it to control loadings. They may do it by price, which ES could have done - but in any case those in the know booked to Amsterdam at the normal Brussels fare, and it was always bookable as a DB Sparpreis London... (but see the thread on that!).
I assume most Brussels passengers will not check the price to Amsterdam.
Is that allowed in the T&Cs of the ticket? If Eurostar caught you could they cancel other tickets you might have bought?
Failure to scan the ticket on an exit barrier at AMS? Add an exit check at BRU? Spot check of empty seats between BRU and AMS? Track your mobile phone MAC address as you leave? Facial recognition cameras? Black helicopters?
How they catch you isn't really what I was wondering but what the T&Cs say. I suppose I should read them myself.
AlexNL
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The gates in the Netherlands aren't used to enforce ticket restrictions.
That could be changed if Eurostar felt they were missing out on significant revenue.
AlexNL
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Not really.
The gatelines on Dutch stations are usually near the entrances/exits to the stations, and are used by all passengers. There is no guarantee that they will be used by passengers at all (they can be opened for operational reasons at any time).
Passengers arriving on Eurostar may immediately continue their journey on a Dutch domestic train by touching in their OV-chipkaart on the platform and boarding an NS train.
The only way Eurostar could enforce restrictions is by doing a ticket inspection round between Brussels and Rotterdam and cross-checking all tickets against those which have been checked in at St. Pancras. This will then come up with a list of tickets which are for the Netherlands, but are no longer present on the train.
If the booking number and passenger last name is encoded into the QR code stamped on the ticket, it's theoretically possible to keep track of people like that. But that would most likely run into privacy objections (think GDPR) as the gates were not built for that purpose.
Or an exit check at Brussels. Or half a dozen other things if they really wanted.
But I wan't really asking if it was possible for Eurostar to catch people leaving the train early but if it was allowed. There are lots of rules in life that you can break without being caught but that doesn't mean it is actually allowed.
I suppose the other option is could you buy a ticket from London to Brussels and stay on to Amsterdam? Sometimes that might be cheaper depending on when you book etc.
When I asked Eurostar, their response was "we're sorry to say that you can only board and disembark at stations named on your ticket, so it wouldn't be possible for you to book to Amsterdam and disembark in Brussels"...seems a bit of weasily wording to me and suggests that they know people will do this and there is nothing they can do about it.
eastwestdivide
Established Member
which sort-of contradicts the advice in their FAQs at https://help.eurostar.com/faq/uk-en/question/I-ve-booked-from-one-station-can-I-board-at-another
Didn't know this, might just get off at Ebbesfleet one day for a laugh
Is this 1104 to Amsterdam a replacement for the current 1058 to Brussels, incidentally, or an entirely separate train?
If it's a replacement I can see a few problems:
a) Brussels fares being higher, as suggested above here - so less choice for Brussels passengers;
b) consequently, less London Spezial fares being available to Germany (while they last...) - the 1058 is IIRC the only departure from London with ICE connection at Brussels, except the 0647, soon to become the 0613, and one fairly late in the day which reaches Cologne late. It's certainly the ideal departure if you want Cologne or Frankfurt, for example, or even further afield in Germany with an overnight stop at Cologne.
c) Ebbsfleet losing a service as presumably the 1104 path is the same as the 1058 path minus an Ebbsfleet stop.
Not saying a third Amsterdam departure is a bad thing - far from it - but surely it should be additional to the regular Brussels services?
If it's a replacement I can see a few problems:
a) Brussels fares being higher, as suggested above here - so less choice for Brussels passengers;
b) consequently, less London Spezial fares being available to Germany (while they last...) - the 1058 is IIRC the only departure from London with ICE connection at Brussels, except the 0647, soon to become the 0613, and one fairly late in the day which reaches Cologne late. It's certainly the ideal departure if you want Cologne or Frankfurt, for example, or even further afield in Germany with an overnight stop at Cologne.
c) Ebbsfleet losing a service as presumably the 1104 path is the same as the 1058 path minus an Ebbsfleet stop.
Not saying a third Amsterdam departure is a bad thing - far from it - but surely it should be additional to the regular Brussels services?
Looks as though the 1104 is bookable 3 months ahead to Brussels; the fares on random midweek dates are higher than the cheapest but sometimes cheaper than the 1258 (which now also has a DB connection BTW, which has probably taken the pressure off the old 1058).
With higher capacity trains ES want to maximise loadings as the track access agreement doesn't encourage them to run extra services.
johnnychips
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OT, but I don’t want to start a new thread. Has the bar in the departure area at St Pancras reopened yet?
Yep it was open the other day
johnnychips
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Thanks for confirming the bar is open. At something like £7 for a pint of Leffe, you really should remember to buy your beer before, but sometimes you don’t.
I honestly haven’t noticed any TV screen on the new trains!
And back on topic, I am very interested in paying for an Amsterdam ticket for a cheaper price than a Brussels ticket. Realistically, if they don’t do exit checks at Brussels - and I’ve never ever seen this, what could they do? Even if they did, they could hardly physically force you back onto the train.
I honestly haven’t noticed any TV screen on the new trains!
And back on topic, I am very interested in paying for an Amsterdam ticket for a cheaper price than a Brussels ticket. Realistically, if they don’t do exit checks at Brussels - and I’ve never ever seen this, what could they do? Even if they did, they could hardly physically force you back onto the train.
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