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Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

independent.co.uk

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Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#41

Post by Arnt »

oh_sigh wrote: post #21
piepiepie wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Great Britain is not part of the Schengen customs zone, customs checks are required before boarding the train (this is the only train at the station with such checks). Due to the renovation, the part of the station where passport and baggage checks by customs officers were performed is to close down && turns out there's not enough space at the station to house temporary border checks, so... no train.

Why do custom checks happen in NL on the ground, and not on-train? The train still goes through Belgium(at least), where no customs checks would be required

I take a train with on-train checks about twice per year. I've seen people sneak past, personally, several times in the past ten years, which implies that they're harder to carry out than if people have to walk through a staffed gate.

Ths UK has this minister who seems to really really really really really not want people sneaking into the UK, not even if it's a handful per year.

The two paragraphs could be causally connected. I don't know.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#42

Post by avar »

zilti wrote: post #36
willsmith72 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> everywhere else that's my question, where? the only places I've done that were between countries with very special travel relationships, e.g. schengen. you can travel those countries without a passport and often no border check at all, it's not the same as uk-netherlands

Especially eastern Europe. And it used to be done all across Europe before Schengen.

It's still done even within Schengen, e.g. last year I took an overnight train from Vienna to Amsterdam, a trip entirely within Schengen.

German police boarded the train at the first station in Germany and walked the train to check everyone's passport.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#43

Post by cycomanic »

I always thought the eurostar was a great demonstration how not to do it.

Shitty trains (compared to e.g. the ICE, TGV or Thalys), the stupid border control/security requirements with huge queues which meant you had to be there >45min early, they even mimicked lounges from airline travel. It's like because they wanted to compete with air travel across the channel, they thought "how can we make train travel the most like air travel" adopting most of the stupid things. I half expect them to build a separate train station next, somewhere in the middle of nowhere with extra expensive public transport connections.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#44

Post by gbear605 »

avar wrote: post #39
willsmith72 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

international customs checks on the train you mean? where do they do that? if i'm getting you correctly, it sounds logistically WAY harder. authorities on every train for a start, then not missing anyone, then when someone shouldn't be allowed to pass customs they're already on the train so you can't kick them off, etc.

Everywhere? This is the first I've heard of customs checks on trains in Europe at the point of disembarkation. I've been on plenty of cross-border trains where police walk the length of the train and check everyone's passport once it's over the border. Why would failing a customs check cause you to be kicked off the train? Either your goods will be confiscated, or you'll be arrested etc.

They also check for your being legally allowed into the UK. If you don’t have a visa, they don’t let you through.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#45

Post by bmoxb »

rewmie wrote: post #34
cameronh90 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not all international travel is party tourism. Both London and Amsterdam are important financial hubs with a lot of business travel between them, as well as popular places to visit for family-friendly reasons.

> Not all international travel is party tourism. Tourism from Great Britain to Amsterdam is party tourism. They are increasing the volume of tourists they can cart in with a transportation mode that's even cheaper at the expense of taking longer trips. These are not business types. In fact British tourism is already synonym of booze tourism.

Very unfair generalisation.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#46

Post by toast0 »

avar wrote: post #39
willsmith72 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

international customs checks on the train you mean? where do they do that? if i'm getting you correctly, it sounds logistically WAY harder. authorities on every train for a start, then not missing anyone, then when someone shouldn't be allowed to pass customs they're already on the train so you can't kick them off, etc.

Everywhere? This is the first I've heard of customs checks on trains in Europe at the point of disembarkation. I've been on plenty of cross-border trains where police walk the length of the train and check everyone's passport once it's over the border. Why would failing a customs check cause you to be kicked off the train? Either your goods will be confiscated, or you'll be arrested etc.

> Why would failing a customs check cause you to be kicked off the train? Either your goods will be confiscated, or you'll be arrested etc.

It's easier for everyone if you deny entry rather than prosecuting for unlawful entry. If you can kick people off while they're still in a country they are presumed to be in lawfully, they can figure out their documents and come back later. If you arrest them in the destination country, they've got to figure that all out from immigration detention.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#47

Post by bestouff »

cycomanic wrote: post #43

I always thought the eurostar was a great demonstration how not to do it. Shitty trains (compared to e.g. the ICE, TGV or Thalys), the stupid border control/security requirements with huge queues which meant you had to be there >45min early, they even mimicked lounges from airline travel. It's like because they wanted to compete with air travel across the channel, they thought "how can we make train travel the most l…

They already did that; in France we have e.g. "Valence TGV" which is a secondary train station far from anything, whereas Valence already has a train station in the city center.

All other major cities have the same thing now.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#48

Post by sschueller »

formerly_proven wrote: post #31
sschueller wrote: post #5

A lot of European countries do not permit continued use of rail infrastructure while being serviced as it can be quite dangerous. [1] Switzerland is an exception to this but it results in extremely complex infrastructure projects with of course a much higher cost and more accidents. However having the infrastructure available in many cases prevents overall economic losses due to less trains etc. [1] https://www.srf.c…

Nonsense.

"However, it must be taken into account that in most European countries routes are simply closed as soon as construction begins. This is not possible in Switzerland because of the busy rail network. That's why operations in Switzerland continue during construction and renovation work - which poses more risks."

https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/unfaelle-mit-bauzuegen-gleis...

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#49

Post by agent327 »

I have traveled between Amsterdam and London by Eurostar and by plane, and I don't see why anyone would take the train, considering that it takes much longer and also costs much more.

To put some numbers to this, if I were to travel to London on December 13th (a Wednesday), I'm looking at 120 euro for a five hour trip by train. Or I can fly for 76 euro and be there in an hour.

Oh, and the train also requires you to be there an hour early, so you don't get the advantage of showing up late either.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#50

Post by AniseAbyss »

cycomanic wrote: post #43

I always thought the eurostar was a great demonstration how not to do it. Shitty trains (compared to e.g. the ICE, TGV or Thalys), the stupid border control/security requirements with huge queues which meant you had to be there >45min early, they even mimicked lounges from airline travel. It's like because they wanted to compete with air travel across the channel, they thought "how can we make train travel the most l…

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