Railsail to the Netherlands

[deltic]

There is a message on Stena's website that NS is not pre-selling any tickets via Stena Line which means customers cannot book the Rail & Sail product with inclusive onward travel via Metro and NS. Does anyone know if this is a temporary or permanent change? Can you buy NS tickets in advance in the UK?

 

[Adlington]

Try the online site: https://www.ns.nl/en

 

[bspahh]

There is a message on Stena's website that NS is not pre-selling any tickets via Stena Line which means customers cannot book the Rail & Sail product with inclusive onward travel via Metro and NS. Does anyone know if this is a temporary or permanent change? Can you buy NS tickets in advance in the UK?

Seat61 says:

COVID-19 update: The Stena Line ferry is running as normal, but Stena Line is only selling the RailSail combined tickets as far as Hoek van Holland at the moment, not to Any Dutch Station. That's down to NS (Dutch Railways) being a pain. So until further notice, book from London or Any Greater Anglia station to Hoek van Holland and simply buy the onward metro/train ticket when you get to Hoek.

 

[dutchflyer]

Has been addressed here too not too long ago. Problem is the need for a ticket with chip in to use RET-metro that now runs HvH-Schiedam (or onward). It seems apparently too much to ask from passengers to simply use their card to buy a single ticket from machine (4€, can even use onward as far as The Hague, but via metro only=the longer route, with change needed). Somehow in the past Stena would sell a few on board from purser, but maybe demand was so low or they found it so much trouble, that it stopped.
Solving it may be soon to come: here in NL it has also been decided to swap from chipcard to ´OV-pay´ which is mostly similar to LONdons style use bankcard as check IN+OUT medium. Has already been put in use in a few bus-regions.
I´ve read somewhere else that sales of these through tickets were less as 30/year, which even delivered less in total income as the cost to keep the online booking system live. Even less foot-pax on the P&O ferry lately from Hull to Europoort (harbor area west of Rotterdam, across river from HvHld=Stena port)

 

[Roast Veg]

Even less foot-pax on the P&O ferry lately from Hull to Europoort (harbor area west of Rotterdam, across river from HvHld=Stena port)

This is hardly a surprise, given the awful pedestrian access at both ends.

 

[jamesontheroad]

As @dutchflyer explains, Rail & Sail tickets aren't available beyond HvH. I would just buy a foot passenger ticket, then use the RET app or RET ticket machines for the journey to Schiedam C or Rotterdam, and continue from there. In the past, for international journeys, I've used DB Europa Sparpreis tickets to/from Schiedam C and just used the RET app.

 

[AlbertBeale]

It's a real shame if the through tickets aren't an option - especially with the need for a metro ticket separate from the mainline ticket for onward journeys. The seamless nature of the London-to various-places-in-Europe ticketing, via that route, was one of its attractions (combined with the direct train-boat link at the port at each side). Is there no way that a separate onward rail ticket from HvH to wherever can't be one ticket, including validity on the metro to reach the main line, like cross-London tickets on the Underground?

 

[Mainline421]

It's a real shame if the through tickets aren't an option - especially with the need for a metro ticket separate from the mainline ticket for onward journeys. The seamless nature of the London-to various-places-in-Europe ticketing, via that route, was one of its attractions (combined with the direct train-boat link at the port at each side). Is there no way that a separate onward rail ticket from HvH to wherever can't be one ticket, including validity on the metro to reach the main line, like cross-London tickets on the Underground?

Yes they had this until the end of 2019 issued on Dutch ticket stock, and then for a couple of months in 2020 issued as an e-ticket. The current situation is supposed to be a temporary measure as NS weren't selling tickets through third parties.

 

[rvdborgt]

Yes they had this until the end of 2019 issued on Dutch ticket stock, and then for a couple of months in 2020 issued as an e-ticket. The current situation is supposed to be a temporary measure as NS weren't selling tickets through third parties.

Rover (Dutch passengers' organisation) asked NS last year why the combi tickets (to any Dutch station) had been discontinued and if and when they will come back. NS replied:

"The cooperation with Stena Line for the e-tickets was a pilot. The results of the pilot were not positive for the various transport companies, which made it undesirable to continue in this form. We are currently working hard on new technical possibilities and payment methods in various areas. This offers opportunities for the future.
However, this is for the long term. It is not yet known exactly when this will be ready. Because these new developments are imminent, we have chosen not to make any major adjustments to continue the pilot. Therefore, we do not offer a combi-ticket at the moment. We are waiting for new technical possibilities and payment methods and will
then consider, together with all parties involved, whether the pilot can be continued in the future."

When asked, NS could not give any indication about when approximately they think combi tickets would be available again.

This is all very unsatisfactory but it seems NS just don't want to do anything about this at the moment.

Before the Dutch part of the combi ticket was sold as an e-ticket, it was a physical ticket, which was only available for passengers in the Netherlands (when sold by Stena in any case - not sure how it worked for the Dutch Flyer that Greater Anglia sold). This was also unsatisfactory but at least there was something available.

 

[DanielB]

Is there no way that a separate onward rail ticket from HvH to wherever can't be one ticket, including validity on the metro to reach the main line, like cross-London tickets on the Underground?

There is an option with one ticket: buy an Holland Travel Ticket. However that's quite expensive to use as a one way ticket. The off-peak version is € 44, including peak hour travel € 64.
Might be an option however when you'd like to explore the Netherlands on the day of arrival.

Or just buy an anonymous OV-chipkaart from the RET ticket machine at Hoek van Holland and load credit on it. That's probably cheaper than a one hour ticket for the metro and a train ticket to your destination. (And you'll avoid the 1 euro fee for the disposable chipcard at NS)

 

[bspahh]

I just booked a single from the Netherlands to the UK. You have to use the Dutch Stena site https://stenaline.nl/

I couldn't find anywhere on that that linked to this page on the Dutch Flyer. I had to use Google to find it:

Met de ferry en trein naar Londen | Engeland | Stena Line

Naar hartje Londen met trein en Stena Line ferry. Boek je ferry overtocht naar Engeland en treintickets online bij Stena Line. Welkom aan boord!

booking.stenaline.nl

I then had to book in Dutch. The link to show the page in English just sent me to the stenaline.co.uk site which doesn't sell single tickets from the Netherlands

 

[biko]

Or just buy an anonymous OV-chipkaart from the RET ticket machine at Hoek van Holland and load credit on it. That's probably cheaper than a one hour ticket for the metro and a train ticket to your destination. (And you'll avoid the 1 euro fee for the disposable chipcard at NS)

That's actually incorrect. The 2 hour ticket of RET is €4, while the OV-Chipkaart fare between Hoek van Holland Haven and Schiedam Centrum is €4.60. If someone from the UK then uses an e-ticket for the train journey, one doesn't need to have an anonymous OV-chipkaart to save money.

 

[DanielB]

That's actually incorrect. The 2 hour ticket of RET is €4, while the OV-Chipkaart fare between Hoek van Holland Haven and Schiedam Centrum is €4.60. If someone from the UK then uses an e-ticket for the train journey, one doesn't need to have an anonymous OV-chipkaart to save money.

I actually didn't look into the fares, but used the assumption that's often (but not always) right that OV chipkaart fares are lower than the fare paid on the vehicle or ticket machine.

For convenience by the way: the 2 hour ticket is also available as a barcode-ticket which one can buy in advance at https://tickets.ret.nl/#/tickets/entrance-tickets
Complication however is that you'll have to select a time from which the 2 hour validity starts in advance as well, although the travel time to Schiedam is not that long so you'd have plenty of time to wait for the next metro should it just have left when you're leaving the ferry terminal.

Be aware that until the 30th of July there is a longer walking distance from the ferry terminal to a temporary platform at Hoek van Holland Haven station, which is located further to the east.
As of August, the new metro station should be in use which is at approximately the same location as the former train platforms (on the curve towards Hoek van Holland Strand).

 

[biko]

I actually didn't look into the fares, but used the assumption that's often (but not always) right that OV chipkaart fares are lower than the fare paid on the vehicle or ticket machine.

No problem, I only know this by coincidence because I noticed the high OV-chipkaart fare when I travelled to London a few years back and checked the RET site for cheaper deals.

 

[rvdborgt]

That's actually incorrect. The 2 hour ticket of RET is €4, while the OV-Chipkaart fare between Hoek van Holland Haven and Schiedam Centrum is €4.60. If someone from the UK then uses an e-ticket for the train journey, one doesn't need to have an anonymous OV-chipkaart to save money.

It's actually quite recent that the RET's e-ticket actually saves money in this case compared to OV-Chipkaart. Until recently, RET had a credit card charge of €0.84. After I pointed out to them that such charges had already been illegal for quite some time, they removed it late last year...

 

[biko]

It's actually quite recent that the RET's e-ticket actually saves money in this case compared to OV-Chipkaart. Until recently, RET had a credit card charge of €0.84. After I pointed out to them that such charges had already been illegal for quite some time, they removed it late last year...

To be more precise, a few years back means 2020, so this has been the case for at least 2 years. This 2-hour ticket isn’t only an e-ticket, but can be bought from the vending machine too (that’s what I did).