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Re: [OM] imgs: from the slow train to Amsterdam

Subject: Re: [OM] imgs: from the slow train to Amsterdam
From: iwert bernakiewicz <iwert.bcz@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2013 18:12:01 +0100
Nathan,

Interesting, when I look at the booking site it is 109,- euro (full flex)
When you book early, discounts are possible, but there is no flexibility.
Not so good when you're in a meeting and have to say at the height of
the productivity: sorry, I have to catch my train! And even with full
flex you have to change the ticket within one hour after scheduled
departure, how is that flexible? With normal IC I can take any train.

Iwert


2013/2/1 Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> Well, FWIW, my Brussels-Schiphol Thalys ticket is €65, first class.
>
> But yes, what you describe must be annoying. Here on the Iberian peninsula
> things are expanding, despite the crisis--very soon the Spanish AVE
> network will be linked with the French TGV, et voila, travel to Paris in a
> civilised manner :-)
>
> Cheers
> Nathan
>
> Op Vr, 1 februari, 2013 16:35, schreef iwert bernakiewicz:
>> Nathan,
>>
>> the trains inside the countries (national transport) are all mostly
>> fine. It is the international connections that detoriated the last
>> years. In this Europe 'without' borders, the borders for the locals
>> are becoming real borders again (financially). I could travel a 330 km
>> trip in 3hrs for 20 euro's two months ago (I have a fidelity card).
>> Now it should have been replaced to 330 km trip in 2.45 hrs for 88
>> euro's (no fidelity cards possible). With the old train, I did not
>> have to make reservations, so if my class would be late, or early, I
>> could just take the train before or after. With the 88 euro this
>> option also exists, if seats are available, and I have to change the
>> ticket in the station at the desk before boarding, so I have to be
>> almost one our earlier at the station?
>> The worst part is the people living in cities just across the border:
>> Antwerp - Rotterdam, Liege - Maastricht, Aachen - Maastricht. All the
>> normal IC trains have been deleted over the last years, so a trip that
>> would last say 30minutes - 1hr now last 1hr-2hrs with the very slow,
>> old train stopping in every possible station in between.
>>
>> So for the 'poor' people it has become worse. And not to forget,
>> EU-workers taking the new train could have taken it for 40 euro, and
>> they get all travel expenses covered. No, I don't see much improvement
>> over the years for international cross border train transport.
>>
>> Iwert
>>
>> 2013/2/1 Nathan Wajsman <photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>>> I don't know...I use the low-cost airlines a lot, but also the trains
>>> here
>>> in Spain and abroad, and they are fine. Even the UK ones have improved
>>> lately, at least the parts I use with reasonable frequency
>>> (London-Bath-Bristol-Cardiff).
>>>
>>> To get home from Brussels on Thursday afternoon, I will take a train
>>> from
>>> Brussels-Midi, just a few metro stations away from the Commission where
>>> I
>>> will be in meetings during the morning. That train will bring me
>>> directly
>>> to Schiphol in under 1.5 hours, and from there I have a direct flight
>>> home
>>> to Alicante a couple of hours later.
>>>
>>> The alternative would have been to spend another night in Brussels and
>>> take an obscenely early morning flight on Friday. Not my favourite
>>> option
>>> :-)
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>> Nathan
>>>
>>> Op Vr, 1 februari, 2013 14:58, schreef iwert bernakiewicz:
>>>> 2013/2/1 Chris Trask <christrask@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>
>>>>>>And Frank: the story about the fyra: I choose from the start not to
>>>>>>take it, 280% more expensive for an unpredictable service that could
>>>>>>be 15 minutes faster for my total trip, no thank you... so now I'm on
>>>>>>the slow train.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Nathan, I hope it will be all right (or was all right?) the Thalys is
>>>>>>also notorious for being late.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>      How I envy you having passenger train service.  Last one I rode
>>>>> was
>>>>> the TGV (orange and silver livery) from Geneva to Paris in 2000.
>>>>>
>>>>> Chris
>>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> It used to be very well organized over here, with good connections
>>>> throughout Europe, trains going from Moscow to Brussels to Ostend,
>>>> from Brussels to Marseille, we even had a direct connection to Zurich
>>>> from Brussels. Now all this is gone and replaced by fragmented private
>>>> 'fast' connections (but they do not connect to each other, so much of
>>>> the speed is lost in transition) with obligatory reservations. I
>>>> remember the time you could simply think: of to (fill in any capital
>>>> in Europe) and hop on the train and arrive smack in centre town. There
>>>> is one alternative: discount low quality air-travel brings you to an
>>>> airport 10-20km into oblivion with mostly no public transport.
>>>>
>>>> Iwert
>>>> --
>>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
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>>>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Nathan Wajsman
>>> photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> --
>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
>>> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
>>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>>>
>> --
>> _________________________________________________________________
>> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
>> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
>> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Nathan Wajsman
> photo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> --
> _________________________________________________________________
> Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
> Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
> Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
>
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