A day tri to Koln

This is probably the most extreme – Koln by train for the day.   It’s a close call, I could have flown, but the flights all go from Heathrow and by the time I had got there, it wouldn’t have saved me any time.   And coming home, too, I’d have to leave about the same time.   It would have been different living in London because I could have got a later flight home, but it’s just too much to come back to Canterbury.   It’s also a bit longer than it might have been because the return train from Bruxelles to Ashford has been moved forward from 1756 to 1656, and I just can’t make that.  So I have to drive to Ebbsfleet instead.   I had looked at taking the morning train from Ashford and coming back from Ebbsfleet on the train, but the timetables are not good and would involve a 45 minute wait at Ebbsfleet and a further 45 minute wait at Ashford.

So, it was up at 5 to get to Ebbsfleet by 6.30.   Google maps says 47 minutes, so I left just after 5.35.   A dreadful day with heavy showers along the motorway, which was surprisingly busy at 5.45, when I joined it.   A lot of lorries doing leapfrog and holding everyone else up.   What was interesting was that they travelled at 60mph, when I thought they were supposed to be speed limited to 50mph.   Some of that is probably my speedometer, but it’s not going to be that far out.

I got there in good time, at about 6.15 and was through security by 6.25 – 45 minutes to wait.   There’s nothing at Ebbsfleet.   The station is tiny with few facilities and even less around.   It always was a station without much purpose.   People go there only because it’s the only place the trains stop, and even then not that many.   I notice that even Eurostar have realised the problem with Ebbsfleet as it now provides services to Europe only in the morning and gets arrivals back only in the afternoon.  More passengers joined our train at Ashford than at Ebbsfleet while the commuter service starting from Ebbsfleet was all but empty.  

Eurostar was on time and very full – at least in the front carriage, which is where I was.   Just like a commuter train, they started to stand by the door about 15 minutes before we arrived just to be first out.

An easy change at Bruxelles (I had a 17 minute window, which was plenty) and then on to the ICE to Koln.   I always thought the ICE was a classy train and so it is.   I treated myself to 1^st class (it cost me all of €10 extra) and sat in the ‘panoramic’ seats right behind the driver.   Very pleasant with a glass screen which goes milky when it gets direct sunlight on it.   Waitress service and beer in a proper glass, not a plastic cup, too.

Stylish the trains might be, but effective?   As we left Aachen, on time, there came an announcement that the train would now terminate at Düren.   Düren?   It’s a small junction between Aachen and Köln.   Don’t worry, they said, there will be a connecting train from the same platform.   We waited for 10 minutes and then the connecting train came in.   For a reason never explained, this was the train from Frankfurt to Bruxelles and passengers from each train would just swap over.   Yes, all very well, but why?   And although the coach numbers were the same, just to make matters more interesting, the trains were reversed so not only was the platform full of people trying to cross from one side to the other – and people trying to cross back the other way, there were also people going from the back to the front and the front to the back.   Eventually we got away about 25 minutes late.

What surprised me was that no explanation was given and the same cheerful announcements we received at the start of the journey, continued cheerily for the remainder, with a brief apology for any inconvenience.   What was also surprising was that no mention of this was made in advance, when clearly this had been planned for some time.   Just like South Eastern and hardly satisfactory.

Luckily, it caused few problems in Köln, but I was hoping (indeed, needing) a smooth journey back when, blow me, the same thing happened again.   That was more worrying as I had only a short time to connect – and a two hour wait if I missed the train.   The chippy cheerfulness advising me that the train was running 25 minutes late was not welcome.

Even if this morning’s change over had been a last minute job, this one would have been known about for several hours but still there was no advance notice given.   Tricky for me, perhaps, but some notice could have meant others could have made alternative plans.

We eventually pitched up at Bruxelles Midi just over half an hour late.   And give Eurostar their due, they rebooked me on the next train without a murmur, even though my ticket was non-transferable.   Still a pain having to wait for two hours though.   And a smooth enough trip back to Ebbsfleet and home by 9.30.