Major mixup narrowly averted at Brussels - Midi

Yowser, thanks for the heads up! I'm going to Brussels for the first time later this year and I've already been warned to make sure you get to the correct station because there are three of them.

We'll be taking a train from Brussels Midi into France, so I guess (hope?) that wouldn't be subject to change?

(BTW....I have had a similar experience with being at the wrong station and making that mad dash across town, but in that situation it was due to my own misunderstanding)

Glad it worked OK.

Interestingly, on several occasions in the UK I've had texts and/or emails from Trainline when there has been a cancellation or other disruption.

If you had booked with German Railways you would have been notified last week (maybe sooner) that the route has track repairs in Germany with possible delays of at least an hour in each direction, and cancellation between Cologne and Frankfurt.

Looking at DB tracking the train was meant to get to Midi, but was one hour late inbound so was terminated short- probably a last minute decision to give an on time departure back. The DB tracker would have told you the SCHEDULED track at Midi- #7, and indeed at Nord- #5.

Currently DB are showing an estimated 1 hour late arrival of your train at Cologne.

Having seen last weeks notice on DB I would have been tracking the inbound train- indeed even if such a notice wasn't in place, but hindsight is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

@isn31c - thanks for the helpful explanation of what happened. Yes, it appears having the DB app in this instance would have been useful. Now I'm wondering if the same track repairs will affect my trip to Paris in three days (Koln - Paris Nord).

I had the same experience a few years ago and like you I solved it by taking a taxi. I booked the ticket on the Belgian site thankfully, because there was a train strike that day in Germany. It’s a good thing because if I had booked it on DB the train wouldn’t have gone. When I arrived in Cologne I was met by my cousins who live there and they said they had never seen the station so empty. Only international trains were arriving.

Actually the best thing to get to Noord would have been to jump on the first Northbound train in Zuid/Midi. There is one every couple of minutes.

Anyway, I would not arrive at Zuid 2,5 hours before my train. That would have been earlier enough to take the ICE before that. And if you had known in advance that your train had its schedule changed you would even have been fine taking that.

Tips for next time:
- When travelling Brugge to Cologne you best book Brugge to Cologne, on DB. Not each leg separately.
- Check the schedule online. In Belgium they actually know the track already days, if not months beforehand. This is not like France. The only reason it takes some time for the track to appear on the display is that it only has place for about half an hour worth of trains...

And if you see online that there is a change in schedule with DB you can treat your ticket as flexible from then on, and just take other trains on the route. That can even be an IC to Liege, and a local to Aachen from there...

I will repeat again: Check the schedule online. If you read the fine print you will find out that the railways actually do not have to inform you of schedule changes. Trains do not have passenger manifests, so there is no way to know who is all going to be on a train. When you book with DB you can tick a box saying you want to be informed of changes, but that is a separate system. If you cancel your ticket you will keep getting those messages.
So check schedules online your own initiative. Always.

I booked the ticket on the Belgian site thankfully, because there was
a train strike that day in Germany. It’s a good thing because if I had
booked it on DB the train wouldn’t have gone

That is weird, as the trains the Belgian site books you are exactly the same trains the DB site books you. So wether a train runs is not contingent on where you book it...

With regards to Cologne to Paris on Thursday, looking at DB they are currently expecting normal operations on that service on Thursday.

However that could change if the work proves to be more challenging than expected (we only need to look at Rotterdam a few weeks ago to know that), so the takeaway from today is that it is best to get the DB app now, and keep a close eye on how things develop.

What you will know at least is your booked departure track at Cologne, and you will see live if and when that is amended.

You can also see the departure/arrival boards for any German station here (Koln used as an example)- https://www.bahnhof.de/en/koeln-hbf/departure

Well, what an adventure today has turned out to be. So we made it as far as Aachen, then went to a place called Geilenkirchen where the train stopped for about 45 minutes. Then there was an announcement saying the train would not be going on to Cologne, that we would be returning to Aachen. Some people had gone as far as booking hotel accommodations in Aachen for the night. So you can imagine my surprise when the train goes right through Aachen and starts heading northeast from there. So it looks like we are going to Cologne after all, but nary an announcement was made.

I've downloaded the DB app and will certainly be using it to keep an eye on things for Thursday.

A funny story about Trainline and the rail system, in this case Austria. I booked with them from Budapest to Vienna. A few days prior I got an ominous looking message in German about my trip. When I deciphered it, turns out that it was informing me that my scheduled arrival time in Vienna had changed… by two minutes.

Some people had gone as far as booking hotel accommodations in Aachen for the night

Don't do that. The railways have to get you to your destination. Trains in Germany run till quite late, so they could almost always put you on another train, or if needed organise taxis.

If they can't get you to your destination the railway must find a hotel for you...

What happened is that between Aachen and Köln a maintenance train that had just replaced a switch derailed. And damaged the switch it had just replaced...
So that switch needs to be replaced again. However switches are made to order, so first one must be produced...

So on your day they first tried to route the ICE via the S-Bahn tracks. But then that line developped a problem, so back to Aachen and around via Mönchengladbach you went.

The new boss of DB has told that getting everything back in order will take a long time, and that travellers should not expect much improvement until about 2038...

I find the DB site and company to do well with notification even if their trains seem to be habitually late.

Last year, my train from Frankfurt to Nurmeburg was canceled prior to its initial departure. I got a notice about it and a new train assignment and seat from DB. That was good because the train was SRO even in first class.

All my notifications are in English.

One of the reasons I like to book direct and keep an eye on the train's progress from its initial departure point.

I do the same with planes. I like to know my plane's schedule for the entire day to see if its going to be late.