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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

#51

Post by laurencerowe »

agent327 wrote: post #49

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 b…

I’ve made this trip by train in the past (changing at Brussels). It is a little slower but you need to consider the time getting to and from the airports.

Unless you’re flying from London City Airport you’re only really saving an hour. The train is far more pleasant.

This was pre-Brexit though when passport control was much faster and I only had to show up half an hour early for the train.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#52

Post by laurencerowe »

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.

> This is the first I've heard of customs checks on trains in Europe at the point of disembarkation.

The checks are at the point of embarkation before you get on the train. You go through French passport control in London and British passport control in Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#53

Post by alistairSH »

capableweb wrote: post #23
oh_sigh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Where on the train would you have place to perform this exactly?

If it's just a passport check they're after, that's fairly easy (though there's always potential for somebody to duck into a restroom or similar).

Customs declarations are usually made at the entry-point (at least with international air travel) - but I don't know how trains do that today (all my train travel was Schengen zone in the late 90s - just passport checks on the train, and only between some countries).

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#54

Post by orwin »

bestouff wrote: post #47
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.

Depends what you call major. Nantes and Rennes don't have external train stations.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#55

Post by em500 »

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…

Most of what you describe is not because they want to make train travel like air travel, but because the UK never signed the Schengen Agreement (so they need to check and stamp passports) and because of Brexit (so they need to inspect baggage for import/exports), unlike train routes between other EU/Schengen destinations.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#56

Post by em500 »

alistairSH wrote: post #53
capableweb wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where on the train would you have place to perform this exactly?

If it's just a passport check they're after, that's fairly easy (though there's always potential for somebody to duck into a restroom or similar). Customs declarations are usually made at the entry-point (at least with international air travel) - but I don't know how trains do that today (all my train travel was Schengen zone in the late 90s - just passport checks on the train, and only between some countries).

Passport/visa check are easy if they're all ok. But what do you do if you have (a group of) people in the train without valid passports/visas?

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#57

Post by meepmorp »

Arnt wrote: post #41
oh_sigh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> Ths UK has this minister who seems to really really really really really not want people sneaking into the UK

You're a braverman than I to say that.

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#58

Post by rewmie »

bmoxb wrote: post #45
rewmie wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Not really a generalization. Non-booze British tourists are the exception and not the norm. The country's tourists built a reputation and holiday destinations are reacting accordingly.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/shortcuts/2017/jan/17/fro...

Re: Eurostar Amsterdam to London trains cancelled for six months

#59

Post by cm2187 »

em500 wrote: post #55
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…

Most of what you describe is not because they want to make train travel like air travel, but because the UK never signed the Schengen Agreement (so they need to check and stamp passports) and because of Brexit (so they need to inspect baggage for import/exports), unlike train routes between other EU/Schengen destinations.

I didn't notice a change in baggage inspections. The inspection occurs when you leave the terminal in London, but that's not blocking, like in airports, you just walk through unless you are one of the few unlucky ones. In 15 years it only happened to me once, and that was before Brexit (they mostly search for drugs and other illegal products).
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