Eurostar cancelled due to strikes - unable to get to Brussels in time for rebooked train

[ABB125]

France is on strike today. As a result, there are only 4 Brussels Eurostars running (and no Paris ones I think). My originally booked train was around 1800 departure from Brussels (can't remember exactly). The latest departure I could rebook onto was the 1256. Which would have been just about doable if everything was on time.

However, DB have just decided to curtail the train to Brussels from Cologne at Aachen for no apparent reason (it's on time). So it's not possible to get to Brussels in time. What can I do? I'm using a 4 day interrail ticket, today I'd the last day of validity.

Apologies if this post isn't very comprehensible, I've had about 8 hours' sleep since Sunday!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The best you can probably do is NOT rebook, feign innocence and show up at the booked time and ask them to sort it. This might (or might not) result in a paid hotel and a rebooking to tomorrow despite your InterRail expiring.

If you've rebooked and you miss the rebooked train, then I think it's going to be a matter for your travel insurance (or your pocket if you don't have any).

 

[ABB125]

The best you can probably do is NOT rebook, feign innocence and show up at the booked time and ask them to sort it. This might (or might not) result in a paid hotel and a rebooking to tomorrow despite your InterRail expiring.

If you've rebooked and you miss the rebooked train, then I think it's going to be a matter for your travel insurance (or your pocket if you don't have any).

Rebooking was done yesterday. There is a 1556 which I would've rebooked onto but it was showing as full.

 

[43096]

However, DB have just decided to curtail the train to Brussels from Cologne at Aachen for no apparent reason (it's on time). So it's not possible to get to Brussels in time. What can I do? I'm using a 4 day interrail ticket, today I'd the last day of validity.

Bahn.expert says train fault. Perhaps it has an AC only restriction as it is a multi-system ICE3 set?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Rebooking was done yesterday. There is a 1556 which I would've rebooked onto but it was showing as full.

Is it likely to be costly e.g. in work terms to get back tomorrow instead? If not, just show up and ask them what they will do, they may just rebook you to tomorrow despite the InterRail expiring. If it is, you might need to look at flights, which I guess will be out of your own pocket, though a lot of these are cancelled too.

You could possibly also Tweet Eurostar to see if they will help.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

If desperate:
Brussels Airlines will get you to Birmingham from Zaventem for a paltry £497 later today (deps at 1520 or 2115).
Ryanair will get you to Manchester from Charleroi at 2150 for £196, but that is probably not attractive.
There's also a Eurowings flight Dusseldorf-BHX at 1845 for £218.

 

[ABB125]

Is it likely to be costly e.g. in work terms to get back tomorrow instead? If not, just show up and ask them what they will do, they may just rebook you to tomorrow despite the InterRail expiring. If it is, you might need to look at flights, which I guess will be out of your own pocket, though a lot of these are cancelled too.

Not really - the advantage of being a student and having a whole week free from exams! I am due to photocopy about a million pages of music at 1100 though, and the custodian (shall we say) if this task can be slightly scary at times...

The on train staff have just announced that to get to Brussels you should take the classic route via Welkenraedt, which arrives at 1300. I'll head over to Brussels and see what Eurostar say. Hopefully they'll be able to find space on the 1556 (although don't they have a policy of no standing?), or might hold the 1256.

 

[scarby]

Get the 11.04 from Aachen to Welkenraedt (or Verviers) to change to go on to Brussels. When you get there go and see what the situation is. They might still be able to get you on the 15.56.

 

[Mike395]

You may well find yourself put on the 1556 (unless the ICE train manager has let Eurostar know via DB's control staff that there are passengers for the 1256 on board that are taking the classic route, I think holding the 1256 is unlikely, but you might be lucky). Eurostar do have a policy of no standing, but they (or at least used to, my knowledge of this is several years out of date admittedly) hold back a small number of seats on every train, primarily to allow operational flexibility onboard e.g. in the event a seat is broken, but they could also be allocated by staff at the terminal.

Best of luck anyway, let us know how you get on! I agree with Bletchleyite too, don't proactively rebook yourself as that greatly lessens the chance of being put up overnight at their expense (and also that of being booked onto a train tomorrow free of charge, seeing as your pass will have expired)

 

[ABB125]

Get the 11.04 from Aachen to Welkenraedt (or Verviers) to change to go on to Brussels. When you get there go and see what the situation is. They might still be able to get you on the 15.56.

That is the plan. Should be some extra loco haulage, I believe!

You may well find yourself put on the 1556 (unless the ICE train manager has let Eurostar know via DB's control staff that there are passengers for the 1256 on board that are taking the classic route, I think holding the 1256 is unlikely, but you might be lucky). Eurostar do have a policy of no standing, but they (or at least used to, my knowledge of this is several years out of date admittedly) hold back a small number of seats on every train, primarily to allow operational flexibility onboard e.g. in the event a seat is broken, but they could also be allocated by staff at the terminal.

Best of luck anyway, let us know how you get on! I agree with Bletchleyite too, don't proactively rebook yourself as that greatly lessens the chance of being put up overnight at their expense (and also that of being booked onto a train tomorrow free of charge, seeing as your pass will have expired)

There's several other passengers headed for Eurostar, so who knows what might happen!

Well, the fun has already started! Platform change for the train to Welkenraedt, so everyone (probably approaching 100 people, most with large quantities of luggage) now has to change islands.
I seem to recall reading on here in the past that the Welkenraedt local train is 1 or 2 cars. I'm not quite sure how everyone will fit if this is the case...

Let the games begin!

 

[duesselmartin]

Currently I can only adivse anybody travelling between Germany and Belgium not to rely on the ICE. The amount of cancellations and major delays are unbelievable.
If Thalys is an option, use it.

 

[ABB125]

Currently I can only adivse anybody travelling between Germany and Belgium not to rely on the ICE. The amount of cancellations and major delays are unbelievable.
If Thalys is an option, use it.

My original plan was to arrive in Brussels at 1535, for the 1851 Eurostar. Which allowed for getting the next ICE (1735 arrival) or going via Welkenraedt. Unfortunately the French strikes messed everything up...

Anyway, I think my 100 passengers was an underestimate! There's loads, almost all with at least one large wheely suitcase. I would certainly have hoped that DB let Eurostar know.
the train from Aachen at Welkenraedt
IC to Brussels (then Ostende) arriving at Welkenraedt. Unfortunately only one of the double-headed class 18s is powering...

 

[43096]

Currently I can only adivse anybody travelling between Germany and Belgium not to rely on the ICE. The amount of cancellations and major delays are unbelievable.
If Thalys is an option, use it.

I was going to say, who relies on DB on that route?!

Hopefully the new ICE3neo units will relieve the problem once delivered.

 

[dutchflyer]

Ah, the joys of train travel-even more on over the border trips. With 4 countries 4 x chance on strike here or there.
FLIXbus-in the I assume not that likely case you want to get to GB anyway: @22.00 from AC and through to LON for 35€-still now a very few seats left open. ARR next morning.
RYAN used to have pretty cheap late eve flites from EINdhoven (1 hr 20 mins by train from AC+25 mins in a citybus), its 115€+ luggage for today, but its too late for you: 16.30. Used to go daily at 22.00 or so, thats why I checked it. However, it seems that also in NL many buses are on strike, no idea how this affects this citybus.

 

[ABB125]

Fortunately, space was available on the 1556. I don't know how many free seats there were, but I was the second person from the cancelled ICE to arrive so it didn't really matter! Given that it was around 1315, I went on a return trip to Leuven to tick of four class 18s for haulage, check in around 1435. And now about to depart. It could easily have been much worse...

 

[AlbertBeale]

The best you can probably do is NOT rebook, feign innocence and show up at the booked time and ask them to sort it. This might (or might not) result in a paid hotel and a rebooking to tomorrow despite your InterRail expiring.

If you've rebooked and you miss the rebooked train, then I think it's going to be a matter for your travel insurance (or your pocket if you don't have any).

Yes - my own experience is that it can be best to try to stick to your original timings.

And if DB have messed up and delayed you, then get them to look after you. It's their problem to find you an alternative route and/or put you up for the night ... at least they've looked after me before like that. [All theoretical of course, given you've made it back anyway!]

But I realise that the situation is different if you're desperate to be back on the right day because of commitments. (And of course I have no idea how being on an Interrail ticket, giving you - in theory - flexibility to reschedule yourself with no significant cost, would affect DB's feeling of responsibility.)

 

[duesselmartin]

that is an interesting question. Would DB have to cover or does the costumer not approach whoever he booked with?

 

[Watershed]

that is an interesting question. Would DB have to cover or does the costumer not approach whoever he booked with?

It is the operator that has caused any missed connection that is responsible for rebooking, or booking alternative transport or accommodation. It doesn't matter who you bought the ticket from.

Of course if you end up travelling to Amsterdam and can't be accommodated on the next Eurostar, you might struggle to find a member of DB staff who can help.

 

[AlbertBeale]

It is the operator that has caused any missed connection that is responsible for rebooking, or booking alternative transport or accommodation. It doesn't matter who you bought the ticket from.

That's clearly the case in the UK - and I'm glad to say it seems to work (in my experience anyway) in mainland Europe too.

Of course if you end up travelling to Amsterdam and can't be accommodated on the next Eurostar, you might struggle to find a member of DB staff who can help.

When a late DB connection meant I'd missed the train to Brussels which would get me there for my Brussels-London train (last of the day), I approached DB (in Cologne) rather than continuing to Brussels and sorting out what to do about being stranded when I got there. DB put me up for the night without a murmur. And the next day, since Brussels-London was not operating because of engineering work, they endorsed my tickets to send me to Paris to pick up a London train from there. All the various companies' staff at each stage were perfectly happy to look after me.

that is an interesting question. Would DB have to cover or does the costumer not approach whoever he booked with?

I didn't mean DB might not help because they hadn't sold the ticket; rather that it's not so obvious that you're really stranded if not using a train-specific ticket. If you miss a connection using Interrail, then you haven't lost your ticket - it's still valid on the next train (which is what the company delaying you would put you on anyway). Which feels a bit different than if you need tickets endorsed/reissued because a lost connection invalidates your onward ticket because it was train-specific.

 

[scarby]

I was going to say, who relies on DB on that route?!

Hopefully the new ICE3neo units will relieve the problem once delivered.

The railways at their very worst. A serious issue affecting thousands of customers but no attempt made to solve it. But don't worry folks, if your train was cancelled, completely messing up your plans. We've got new trains coming along in a couple of years.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The railways at their very worst. A serious issue affecting thousands of customers but no attempt made to solve it. But don't worry folks, if your train was cancelled, completely messing up your plans. We've got new trains coming along in a couple of years.

Are the units actually the issue?

 

[RT4038]

Are the units actually the issue?

I believe these units have been a problem since new. Software particularly I think. In spite of a huge amount of downtime, the issues have not been overcome. Sounds ridiculous, but quite imaginable!

 

[Capybara]

I've travelled through Brussels to Aachen and vice versa on many occasions and learned early on not to rely on DB. It's led to some pretty lengthy waits in Brussels on the return journey when everything has gone right, but I've only once missed my Eurostar when things went terribly wrong. The last time I was hit by a Eurostar cancellation but, when I got to Brussels to rearrange my journey, at the next desk were a couple of German passengers who explained that they were booked on the Eurostar that had just departed but had been let down by problems with DB. The Eurostar staff member just shrugged and said it happens all the time and rebooked the pair without any further questions.

Incidentally, on the many occasions I have used the cross-border shuttle from Aachen, I've never known it depart from anywhere other than Platform 9 or, rarely, Platform 8.

 

[DanielB]

Are the units actually the issue?

Yes, especially their ageing multi voltage equipment, which is ancient technology. And in the refurbished set 4651 the Bordbistro is out of order since the refurbishment.

Currently an emergency timetable is already in operation with services from Amsterdam terminating short in Düsseldorf, making sure that the available sets are used where they are made most needed (in cross border services). Domestic German services operating with ICE3M are switched over to other ICE stock to have enough 3Ms available as well.

 

[popeter45]

i'm kind of stuck with DB for travel to Frankfurt next month, for reasons its a flixpreis ticket so gives me good flexability with first trying to catch ICE 17 with both ICE 317 and ICE 19 as backups as both wwill get me to Frankfurt on time, how suceessful are people when trying to get a HOTNATs furfilment with thalys?, if ICE 17 and 317 are cancelled will they still try push back until or even past ICE 19 being cancelled?

real shame with how bad DB has got on this route as i prefer DB such more than thalys, they have a actual bistro onboard

with a bit of excel-fu seems they have 4 train diagrams for the route but from what seems to get cancelled they seem to be trying to run with 3 trains so one must be out of action and non free to replace it

 

[30907]

i'm kind of stuck with DB for travel to Frankfurt next month, for reasons its a flixpreis ticket so gives me good flexability with first trying to catch ICE 17 with both ICE 317 and ICE 19 as backups as both wwill get me to Frankfurt on time, how suceessful are people when trying to get a HOTNATs furfilment with thalys?, if ICE 17 and 317 are cancelled will they still try push back until or even past ICE 19 being cancelled.

It's not worth waiting 3 hours for the next Thalys after ICE17!
If you miss 17 AND 317 is cancelled in Belgium, using IC to Verviers and regional trains to Koeln will delay you about 2hours - and you can get an instant part-refund at destination or submit your Fahrgastrechte claim.
I assume you are taking the 1104 from STP which is an Amsterdam so gives you cross-platform interchange at Midi too.

 

[popeter45]

It's not worth waiting 3 hours for the next Thalys after ICE17!
If you miss 17 AND 317 is cancelled in Belgium, using IC to Verviers and regional trains to Koeln will delay you about 2hours - and you can get an instant part-refund at destination or submit your Fahrgastrechte claim.
I assume you are taking the 1104 from STP which is an Amsterdam so gives you cross-platform interchange at Midi too.

Thanks for that, is verviers better than Welkenraedt in that direction?, Also is it a simple hop on or would I need to get my ticket validated for taking local trains instead?

And yes it's the 1104 arriving at 1405

 

[30907]

Thanks for that, is verviers better than Welkenraedt in that direction?, Also is it a simple hop on or would I need to get my ticket validated for taking local trains instead?

And yes it's the 1104 arriving at 1405

If it's Flexpreis, no problem. With a Sparpreis, the booked-train-only rule means I would ask the conductor - but I wouldn't expect any problems.

 

[DanielB]

With a Sparpreis, the booked-train-only rule

If you've booked a Sparpreis and the booked train on your ticket has been cancelled, the so called "Zugbindung" (trains you're obliged to take) is cancelled automatically.

You can ask the conductor, but don't necessarily need to. In the other direction (so coming from Germany) it may be usefull to go to an information desk when you've got time to get a stamp cancelling "Zugbindung".
That would also be possible when your train is not cancelled but just severely delayed. I once arrived early at the station on the way back of a business trip and even got a stamp allowing me to take an earlier train, just because the later connection would be tight due to delays.

 

[30907]

If you've booked a Sparpreis and the booked train on your ticket has been cancelled, the so called "Zugbindung" (trains you're obliged to take) is cancelled automatically.

Of course, sorry. I was thinking in terms of a missed connection from ES, which is slightly different.