Everything WRONG With The NEW Eurostar Merger

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I saw an interview of the Eurostar group post-merger that it is envisioned to unify the fleet around quad-voltage 16-car Siemens Velaros and phase out these TGV sets.

17:55 it is nothing to be surprised about, thalys is majority owned by sncf, meaning that sncf basically had a monopoly on all routes between brussels and paris, and in 30 years time, they have increased the price over and over again, without increasing capacity at all.

Amsterdam Zuid Station is currently being converted into an international train station. All international trains will then depart from South station to relieve Amsterdam Central Station, but also because there is little room for a customs area at Central Station. In addition, Amsterdam Station Zuid is located in the heart of Greater Amsterdam. Amsterdam CS is located more in the north of Amsterdam.

The reason why the barcode is not working on the gates to platform in the Netherlands is often that NFC is activated on the phone. So the system thinks you have a travel card with nfc chip. Switch it off on the phone, and the barcode works usually. I had the same problem with online international tickets in the Deutsche Bahn app.

Did you notice that as soon as the train passes the border with Belgium, the speed goes down form 300 to 150 - 160 km/h, despite that this is a high speed line? I travel to Brussels almost weekly. It is not incidental.

Earlier incident: Bridge has a permanent 80km/h limit due to problems with the bridgeheads. There multiple bridges with the same design all have a 120 km/h limit. Only the southern part and the part between the Groene Hart Tunnel - Rotterdam is high speed, but the train can only reach 200'ish. They "hope" that in 2025 they can do a mind boggelling 160 again on the bridge part. Also technically you can buy a ticket on the Eurostar Red for Amsterdam Rotterdam only, it's way more expensive though so noboddy does it.

Having recently passed through Amsterdam Centraal several times that work around platform 1 gives all sorts of issues in particular if you are entering or exiting towards the trams (more construction work). This time I took the NS/SNCB service to Antwerp. The pricing difference can be pretty substantial although loadings can be heavy on the regular IC services. I did notice many delays on the Eurostar/Thalys services while in the Netherlands, and South of Antwerp. My guess is that the experience on the ‘new’ Eurostar services will become more of an issue when the London-Amsterdam Eurostar services are impacted by the work at Amsterdam Centraal and they have to pick up even more southbound passengers. Seat availability, at least at short notice might become an issue?

It still feels cramped. Nice video, keep it up. I also found the Amsterdam London link cramped.

As usual, very nice video 📹. Always look forward to it. 😊

12:37 As someone from Belgium, that is very sad that it happens.😊

Eurostar and Thalys were both basically divisions of SNCF, so nothing has really changed except the name on the trains, and I guess your experience confirms that.

Question - if on "red Eurostar" and using the café car, should I pay in pounds or euros? I know on "blue Eurostar" paying in pounds is normally best.

Thank you for sharing. I've always wanted to try riding the Eurostar❤ By the way I know a discount can find cheaper train tickets, if someone needs, I am happy to share🎉

To my experience the merger created unnecessary confusion with infrequent travellers, removed the attractive cheaper fares on some off-peak trains, downgraded the Thalys loyalty program and solved none of the issues I have with the refurbished ruby sets. It's a shame really, I used to really like travelling with these trains.

Thanks very enjoyable video 👍

one thing they should fix is the boarding every time I see it while train spotting the boarding looks like a nightmare it probably is and we cant forget all the confusion whit it also being named Eurostar

i like your train videos at the most because of all the informations

I think it's sad and criminal what Eurostar is doing. Low effort, high prices, same trains and interiors. I really hope good and strong competition can enter the market and challenge Eurostar since more and more people want to travel by train but no one in their right mind would choose £130 rail fare vs £10 airfare. And it's a shame.

11:31 Did anyone notice that guy that has the word « France » on the t shirt?😊