Late night fun on Eurostar
Aug 25th, 2006, 08:45 AM
#44
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More fun today...the 17:56 from Brussels to London "broke" (they didn't say how) and they are trying to pack everyone from that train onto the 18:56, including several large tour groups. So the train is very full. My husband booked his ticket last week and found that a leisure select (first class) ticket was actually cheaper than second class...only full fare seats were left in second, while there were plenty of discounted first class seats available. The people at the Business Premiere desk said it's because of all the tour groups, most of which travel in second class.
Aug 25th, 2006, 09:07 AM
#45
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as posted by <b>altamiro</b>,
<i>Not really. Only a few high-speed lines built in the last 2 decades are dedicted for passenger trains. 99% of the network is shared by passenger trains with freight trains. The passenger trains have ALWAYS right of way before freight in Germany, Switzerland, France etc. though.</i>,
I'm not defending Amtrak, but without knowing what the ownership of the tracks is like in Europe, I could only tell you the reason why Amtrak is a 2nd class rail user in the US. Majority of the railroad tracks are privately owned by freight rail companies. <b>Private</b> is the magic word here. Amtrak only leases the tracks from them. It does not own any part of it nor controls any part of it. I'm sure there may be few exceptions here and there, especially in the northeast corner, but that is very true for the rest of the country. So, as an owner of a freight rail company, who would you give the preference to when faced with that decision? If it was me, the freight train gets a free pass, after all it's where I as an owner make my money from. The Amtrak lease is just extra lunch money.
<i>Not really. Only a few high-speed lines built in the last 2 decades are dedicted for passenger trains. 99% of the network is shared by passenger trains with freight trains. The passenger trains have ALWAYS right of way before freight in Germany, Switzerland, France etc. though.</i>,
I'm not defending Amtrak, but without knowing what the ownership of the tracks is like in Europe, I could only tell you the reason why Amtrak is a 2nd class rail user in the US. Majority of the railroad tracks are privately owned by freight rail companies. <b>Private</b> is the magic word here. Amtrak only leases the tracks from them. It does not own any part of it nor controls any part of it. I'm sure there may be few exceptions here and there, especially in the northeast corner, but that is very true for the rest of the country. So, as an owner of a freight rail company, who would you give the preference to when faced with that decision? If it was me, the freight train gets a free pass, after all it's where I as an owner make my money from. The Amtrak lease is just extra lunch money.
Aug 25th, 2006, 01:51 PM
#46
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>after all it's where I as an owner make my money from
That's exactly the problem. The European railways do in part make money, but mostly from passenger traffic. I guess the american ones, at least where the settlement structure would fit it, could try to make passenger traffic profitable as well... (East coast? West coast?)
That's exactly the problem. The European railways do in part make money, but mostly from passenger traffic. I guess the american ones, at least where the settlement structure would fit it, could try to make passenger traffic profitable as well... (East coast? West coast?)
Aug 26th, 2006, 12:27 PM
#47
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Stokebailey,
I took the train at 13h40 in Lille and it arrived in London 70 min late. It left on time but was standing still for about 55 min before the chunnel and went quite slow through the chunnel. About 10 minutes after the train had stopped, the responsible announced (with an English accent so terrible that it made my whole wagon laugh out loud) through the intercom that there would be a 45 min delay because of circulation problems. Luckily the airco or lights didn't stop. In the end, they apologised for the inconvenience. So yes, it was a bit annoying, but then again, a delay could have been expected. On the way back the next day there was no problem at all.
I took the train at 13h40 in Lille and it arrived in London 70 min late. It left on time but was standing still for about 55 min before the chunnel and went quite slow through the chunnel. About 10 minutes after the train had stopped, the responsible announced (with an English accent so terrible that it made my whole wagon laugh out loud) through the intercom that there would be a 45 min delay because of circulation problems. Luckily the airco or lights didn't stop. In the end, they apologised for the inconvenience. So yes, it was a bit annoying, but then again, a delay could have been expected. On the way back the next day there was no problem at all.
