Hi
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89e1511l7po
I read that news on Eurostar trains being delayed due to cable theft. It made me facepalm.
What would you do if you experience the delays especially at nights?
I heard that Bahn train in Germany is famous for delays. How would you do if you find yourself being delayed?
Last year, I used Eurostar and experienced no delays at all. I enjoyed Eurostar so far. I am surprised to read the recent news on Eurostar cable theft that worries me.
Delays, Trains, Buses, Airplanes, are part of travel. You can either gnash your teeth and shake your fist at the sky, or accept it and enjoy your trip.
Most of the time, the delay is minor, go get a cup of coffee and a snack, then back on your way. The unknown is the worse part, a delay of 10 minutes, that stretches to 30, then an hour, not enough of a delay to do anything, but sit.
A few times we have taken control, if it looks like something significant, change routes, change your train to much later and go eat lunch and wander whatever town you are in, all part of flexible travel. Though I know some that plan to the minute, it is a major problem.
I grew up in New York City, where even rich people take the subway.
Mass transit is like that.
In Switzerland federal councillors will commute to Bern by train. (One of the perks of the job is that you get a 1st class GA for life...)
Fair question , Brigitte. I've been in that situation, arriving in Bayeux at midnight instead of late afternoon as scheduled. Some takeaway lessons for me were:
Make note of the phone number for a taxi service at your destination. You never know when you might need a taxi vs. walking or picking up your rental car as planned. And if you arrive at a smaller station late at night, there may not be anyone there to help you.
Take sandwiches and water in case that 2 hour train ride turns into 6 hours.
Pack your patience and go with the flow.
Good luck! And remember that most trains do arrive on time. The Force is on your side.
A Spanish train failed on French tracks in France a few months ago. It took hours and hours for a new train from Barcelona to rescue everyone. The French crews weren’t authorized to act. So yes, stuff happens. Prepare every train trip as if you could be delayed. Have food and water. Stuff happens. All the better if you are on time.
About half of my train trips are delayed for one reason or another, including theft of cables for the valuable metals. The train delay in the article was extreme.
Last month, we were in Winchester, England when there was a signal disruption that caused a "Do Not Travel" alert for our train line. One train after another canceled, no indication other than "later in the day" as to when it would resolve. Our hotel was 25 miles away in another town.
I typically have a Plan B and info on bus or other transit information. I had none in this instance as there are normally multiple trains per hour between our locations. Google Maps to the rescue - two different bus lines, 2.5 hours through the backroads when the train would have been 30 minutes with intermediate stops. Nonetheless, we made it.
We decided to cut our day in Winchester shorter than planned as we didn't know what to expect in getting to our hotel. It didn't seem worth the risk to take later buses when we weren't sure if we would make connections and find the needed bus stops easily. No help from Railway workers - they were looking at the same National Rail app that I was. I believe the trains began running around 7 - 8 PM, but we couldn't have known that would happen at 3 - 4 PM. We prioritized known transport on the bus for unknowns on the train.
Delays are no fun but they happen all the time. Sometimes they are worse, sometimes they are easier to recover from. It is just unfortunately part of traveling.
Eurostar canceled my train a couple years ago. The answer was to re-book another, later train. It happens.
You'd have imagined that Eurostar got quite a fright from how badly it went recently with the cable theft incident. You'd hope that their track-side security is way beefed up and their processes and contingency for rescuing stuck trains is now going to err a bit more on the side of caution.
You'd hope that they leaned a lesson and all will be good with no more big delays like the one that happened, for the foreseeable.
I once had a six hour journey on the Eurostar; an earlier train derailed and subsequent trains had to be single-tracked. I got back to London after midnight.
My last two trips to the UK have included train delays and cancellations due to a person being hit by a train. Last September, I waited hours at Euston station for train service to resume and finally gave up and booked a hotel in London. I took the train the following morning. On my May trip, my train to Bath got diverted and bypassed Bath. I continued to Bristol Temple Meads where I ended up sharing a taxi back to Bath with three others who were on my train.
Delays happen frequently with all types of transportation; you need to have some flexibility built into your schedule. For example, I never take a long-distance train on the same day that I have a flight. I always stay somewhere within a taxi ride of the airport in case there is a public transportation meltdown.
If Eurostar has a problem, especially outside of standard office
hours, it can get ridiculous and they tend to just shrug and say
rebook for another day or ask for a refund. They don't happen that
often but when they do it usually makes news (actually the same text
can pretty much be used over and over....).
Rebook for another day means that the one wasted money in reserving that accomodation that wont be refunded in addition to booking for another accomodation for one more night. Refund train ticket only. Looks like we need travel insurance to cover that.
Make note of the phone number for a taxi service at your destination.
You never know when you might need a taxi vs. walking or picking up
your rental car as planned. And if you arrive at a smaller station
late at night, there may not be anyone there to help you.
Thanks for this tip. Wonder what if taxi driver sleeps at night and do not respond to the call, how? Thankfully, most trains are on time.
Food and water is important, I agree. I bear this in mind. What if taxi driver is unable to drive to the countryside with railway. You can see the picture shown in that article.
That new article mentioned "passengers were not allowed to leave the train for hours due to security concerns regarding people standing near the rails". "multiple passengers" were "suffering" on the hot train."
It breaks down halfway in midst of the journey.
I read the news article that there was poor communication, how would you do if there was poor communication caused by the train staff? I'm sure that confusion might happen if poor communication was formed. 9 hours delay!
Is it necessary to have plan B in such situation?
Life often requires a Plan B - or roll with the situation.
You should always have travel insurance anyway, or the available funds to cover unexpected costs, whatever mode of travel you use.
In the UK, unless a red notice has been issued before your journey started all rail operators have a duty to get you to your destination that night or find hotels if that is physically possible.
The reason people were not allowed to leave the train is not security, it is safety. To have people milling round on or near live tracks (especially high speed ones) without adequate supervision is a recipe for disaster. The train crew are too small to do that, people have to be brought in to assist, which takes time.
I believe you can give too much information.
Often the available information is too technical or vague.
The rumour is that a rescue locomotive was requested, it isn't clear if there was no thunderbird available or if it was available but had incompatible couplings to link up to the train.
Also if passengers had detrained without authority they prolonged the delay as the other running lines would then have had to be closed, stopping so train movements.
That includes passengers who order up taxis to a stranded train, assuming road access was even available, or you can even get off the railway line.
Then when a train was found and crewed and dispatched a train to train transfer with a train of that size will always be a very lengthy process.
Brigitte07 while this news article is troubling, it is not a regular or common occurrence - think of how many Eurostar trains run every day without one newsworthy thing happening. Weather/construction/accidents/traffic cause delay and detours for all forms of transportation (flights, cars, transit, trains). What has been said by others is true - have travel insurance to cover major expenses and pack an attitude of flexibility. While this story is sensational it seems to be causing unnecessary worry. The chances of a similar situation delaying your travels is pretty small.
I traveled from London to Lille on the Eurostar on June 25--the disastrous day. I had an early email from Eurostar, suggesting I rebook, but without any specifics. I went online and saw no indication of a delay or cancelation--though I knew one of those could still happen. Traveling to Lille, I didn't have a good alternative, so I just showed up at St. Pancras on time and hoped. St Pancras was a zoo, mobbed and with no place to sit down, but my train departed basically on schedule. (I think the problems may have been farther down the line, beyond Lille; I never saw a map.)
It did seem as if the knee-jerk reaction of the Eurostar folks was to tell people to rebook their trips.
Transportation disruptions are possible anywhere. My most recent domestic flights (a 1-1/2 hour trip) were 6 and 7 hours late. My most recent transatlantic flight was canceled, meaning a 24-hour delay. Hyper-compressed itineraries and prebooking everything, not just the activities that might sell out, are risky strategies. Most of the time everything will be pretty much OK, but sometimes the house of cards will collapse.
Goodness! Eurostar cancelled most train services between Paris and Brussels from July to September.
Brigitte, are you sure about that? I only see one or two trains a day cancelled (in advance) for that period.
Goodness! Eurostar cancelled most train services between Paris and
Brussels from July to September.
To see the actual trains canceled, you have to click on the announcement and open a separate page with further details. Here's one example: https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en/travel-info/travel-updates/30841
As Tim noted, there are a few cancellations on specific days, not every single train for that time period
I hope this exchange from the smash 1970s TV hit show Kung Fu will be helpful (I highlighted a key line):
Season 1 Episode #5 - The Tide
Caine: Is it good to seek the past, Master Po? Does it not rob the
present?Master Po: If a man dwells on the past, then he robs the present. But
if a man ignores the past, he may rob the future. The seeds of our
destiny are nurtured by the roots of our past.Master Po: Seek not to know the answers, but to understand the
questions.Master Kahn: We do not punish for trust. If while building a house,
a carpenter strikes a nail. It proves faulty by bending. Does the
carpenter then lose faith in all nails and stop building his house?
Young Caine: Then we are required to trust....
Brigitte - No need to panic. Some train departures are canceled, there are others still operating. As one who has been impacted by a Eurostar cancelation, I can attest that it is very easy to reschedule a train journey. It can all be done online .
