Pages tagged: Belgium

European Rail News
Practical Info
published on 19 June 2022
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Germany’s 9-euro ticket available for travel in June, July and August 2022 is truly an invitation to wander – and not just within Germany’s borders. With a 9-euro ticket to hand, it’s perfectly possible to travel by train or bus into all nine countries that border onto Germany without having to pay a cent extra. Here’s our sample list of cross-border excursions which are there for the taking.
Opinion
published on 30 October 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Would it not, in these difficult times, be so much better if operators initially open sales only for those trains which would run in the most skeleton timetable? If the pandemic abates, everyone will be delighted to then see operators responding quickly by adding in extra trains to meet renewed demand. We look at the offer of two operators: Eurostar and Thalys.
News
published on 20 April 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
It's going to take a long time for Europe's long-distance international train services to get back to normal, but many local trains across frontiers are already running again.
Opinion
published on 29 March 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Perhaps a future generation of travellers will look back at the international rail timetables for early April 2020, barely able to believe that Europe could have become so fragmented. But will they even be able to find out what the timetables were? In this digital age, we do just wonder whether scholars a century hence will be able to find copies of the railway timetables which were applicable in this difficult period.
Practical Info
published on 20 March 2020
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
We take a look at Europe's fragmenting network of international rail links as passengers stay at home during the Coronavirus pandemic. Rail operators in western Europe have responded a little more slowly to the growing threat than those further east.
News
published on 31 October 2018
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
The new railway timetables that come into effect on Sunday 9 December 2018 could well bring significant improvements in international rail services in both the Belgian area of Wallonie and Poland's Silesia region. In this European Rail News, we sum up the changes.
News
published on 2 March 2016
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Two new train services from Brussels to France will commence operation next month. And they are as different as chalk and cheese. Here’s the gen on a new fast link to Strasbourg and a slow train to Paris.
News
published on 18 September 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
For many years, Thalys trains never crossed the River Rhine. Trains from Paris all terminated at Cologne Hauptbahnhof on the west bank of the river. But from December 2015 Thalys will extend its network to Dortmund.
Practical Info
published on 16 April 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Sometimes a temporary alteration in timetables can have repercussions on travel itineraries across a wide area. And that’s just what will happen this summer when engineering work between Aachen and Cologne will mean extended travel times on journeys crossing the Belgian-German border at Aachen.
News
published on 26 March 2015
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
It looks like all change at Thalys as the international rail operator trims its network. Thalys presently serves ten stations in Belgium. With next week’s cuts, that number drops to just four.
published on 1 February 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
The Belgian Railway authorities this afternoon announced the return of old-style InterCity services from Brussels to stations in the Netherlands. This is to provide some kind of replacement for the short-lived FYRA service, introduced in December 2012 and then withdrawn last month.
published on 27 January 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
If you are bound for Amsterdam from London or Paris and are travelling just for fun, might we suggest an alternative to the fast Thalys connection? Make for Lille and then follow our rural itinerary on through Belgian Flanders and Dutch Zeeland. This route takes in lowland landscapes that inspired Flemish and Dutch artists.
published on 26 January 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Cast back to last year, and Brits wanting to travel by train to the Netherlands just opted for the cheapest and most obvious route. Eurostar (and plenty of agents besides) sold an Any Dutch Station (ADS) ticket. It cost little more than a regular Eurostar ticket to Brussels, and allowed customers to connect in the Belgian capital with onward trains to the Netherlands. Unfortunately, that ADS ticket is no longer for sale.
published on 17 January 2013
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
Cast back fifty years and St Pancras station in London had plenty of trains to stir the imagination. The Palatine still ran from St Pancras to Miller’s Dale and The Waverley to Hawick. But during the 1980s and 1990s, St Pancras was a dull place for devotees of interesting trains. It’s hard to get excited about the slow train to Luton or the semi-fast to Leicester. This most august of London termini fell into deep decline.
published on 10 June 2011
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
We sensed we were crossing into another world as the Moscow-bound train rumbled over the long bridge that spans the River Bug. The reed beds are full of wildfowl which are not troubled by the frequent trains that rattle overhead. This is the border wilderness that divides Poland from Belarus. It marks one of Europe's great divides: the Curzon Line.
published on 10 January 2011
by Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
There are a few changes on Eurostar this week with the introduction of a new Standard Premier class on services linking London with Brussels and Paris. Standard Premier replaces Leisure Select as the middle tier of the three class service on Eurostar's capital city services.