Thaly vs IC
 

Do you have to have a reservation on Thalys? Do they take walk-ups at all? Does this same day purchase cost a lot more then the IC?

Yes you need a reservation for Thalys. A ticket bought on the day will be a lot more than one booked in advance. The IC will in that case be cheaper. Where do you want to take the Thalys/IC to?

and Thalys often seems to be full - i recently watched Thalys trains roll into Amsterdam Centraal Station and many were chock full - so even if you wanted to pay two or three times as much as the IC train you may not be able to walk up and buy a ducat.

And the IC trains are only about an hour longer all told from Brussels - and once the Belgians and Dutch get together to run FAYR (sp?)high-speed trains on the newly opened high-speed tracks the Thalys runs on between Antwerpen and Amsterdam the alternate to the Thalys will by not much slower and you can always buy IC tickets on the spot - flat fee so not paying more for last-minute travel (currently there is a surcharge for the FAYR trains that are running hourly from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Rotterdam- 7.50 euros over the normal IC trains, which take a different more roundabout route. - But seat reservations apparently are not possible on FAYR trains like on Thalysso you can always get on i guess. (I had a railpass and it would have cost me 7.5 euros with the pass.)

But quarreling between the Dutch and Belgians (an old thing) has prevented the FAYR (may not have name exactly correct - but the high-speed non-Thalys trains running over the new high-speed line that goes directly from Rotterdam Centraal via Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam C.S.

So in the near future the alternative to the Thalys -these higher-speed FAYR trains should run from Brussels thru to Amsterdam- about same time as Thalys but a whole lot cheaper.

That would be the Fyra pal. You pay a hefty surchrage for using it (€7.40 each way to R'dam), and as far as I know they have no plans to extend it beyond Rotterdam. It too is cheaper if you book it in advance.

Well i don't know much about extending it except i read in one of Hispeed brochures that it would be extended soon, whatever that means to Antwerp and Brussels - i just cannot understand why this is not so now, with all the high-speed line in place - mysetrious to me.

Hetismij
We will be traveling from Bruges to Amsterdam, we would like to get to Amsterdam by late afternoon. I can book a Thaly on-line for our day of travel, late Jan, but about how much will booking early with Thaly save over using IC, one-way?

Brugesto amsterdam the non-Thalys way takes IC trains (at least hourly) from Bruges to Antwerp Centraal Station then another IC train (hourly) - for fares in euro go to the Dutch Railways web site ns.nl and put in Amsterdam to Bruges just to get the (flat) fare pricing for the IC trains routing-Unless you snag a really cheap and hard to get often i think you would not save that much- and the IC trains typically are cheaper than the average Thalys ticket price.Plus you can just hop on any of these IC trains anytime- seat reservations are not even possible and you can always board and usually find ample seating, esp in first class. I just did the Antwerp to Amsterdam IC train and 2nd classwas pretty hectic but first class mainly empty- now it will vary as to time of day and day of week,etc.

Question...

How much times do you save by taking the Thalys? My understanding is it is much faster since they have upgraded the tracks - - or does the need for a regular train from Bruges to Brussels (a little out of the way) result in not much of a time difference than going Bruges -Antwerp - Amsterdam?

SS

The schedules are on www.bahn.de.
By changing at Brussels onto a Thalys train, the journey from Brugge to Amsterdam takes 3 hrs 12 mins.
By taking ordinary hourly IC trains and changing at Antwerpen, it takes 3 hrs 47 mins.

EU-DIGEST: Netherlands - New Fyra high speed ( 250 KMper hr ...
Jul 10, 2009 ... Netherlands - New Fyra high speed ( 250 KMper hr) trains to link Amsterdam Airport Schiphol – Rotterdam – Antwerp – Brussels - Paris ...
http://www.eu-digest.com/.../airrail...fyra-high.html

The fare for Brugge-Amsterdam on IC trains is 45 euro.

The fare for Brugge-Bruxelles on IC trains is 12.90 euro. The standard 2nd class fare for Bruxelles-Amsterdam on Thalys trains is 64 euro. If you book far enough in advance (up to 90 days allowed), you can get a Smoove fare of 25 euro.

So unless you can get a Smoove fare on Thalys, you'll be better off taking IC trains all the way.

You also factor in the ABS or All Belgian Stations fare that exists with at least some Thalys tickets (not sure all) that sllows you to travel free on any train from a Thalys train to any Belgian station and also from any Belgian station to any Thalys station in Belgium - thus you could take the IC train free to Antwerp if you booked the Thalys from there- or to Brussels as well.

The ABS feature is free for Eurostar trains but not for Thalys trains. Here's a quote from the Belgian Rail site:

"With Thalys, if you need an "Any Belgian Station" extension, there will be a supplement to pay. If you do not want the price of this supplement to be included in the price of your Thalys ticket, simply select the actual departure station of your Thalys train as your departure station (e.g. Brussels-Midi), rather than the Belgian station closest to where you live."

off topic, sorry.

Your link doesn't work Pal, but yes it seems Fyra will eventually get to Brussels
Fyra has no date yet for the Brussels link. It will still be more expensive than the IC. Eventually there will be one train an hour to Brussels. Your guess is as good as mine as to when that may actually happen.


Back on topic - I don't think the time gained is worth the extra money for the trip unless you can get a Smoove ticket (€25 from Antwerp/Brussels to Amsterdam).

http://www.nshispeed.nl/en/back-to-home has all the times and prices.
Thalys has been having a lot of teething problems with safety traps stopping it at a couple of points along the route, one by Barendrecht and then again at the Belgian border. The Belgian border one is I believe due to a difference in the system between the two countries Duh!
It seems the stretch in Belgium is still not certified for 300km/hour. The stretch from Rotterdam to Schiphol will receive it's certification in the spring.

Not nit-picking Pal but we had a very enjoyable trip from Brugge to Amsterdam a few years ago using IC trains but changed at Antwerp Berchem not Centraal Station. If I recall correctly it was a 'straight through' ticket and the connecting time at Bercham was only about 15 minutes.

Of course, that connecting station may now have changed.

Never used Thalys but we enjoyed IC very much, pleasant crew, snacks available and it kept to its timetable.

joe

Antwerpen Centraal was a terminal station and trains had to reverse to continue their journeys. Therefore, many through trains used the nearby Berchem station instead.
There is now a new underground line through Antwerpen Centraal so that the IC trains from Brussels to Amsterdam can stop there without reversing.
You therefore change trains at the Centraal station, not Berchem.

Thank's very much GeoffHamer. It was a few years ago and I did wonder if things had changed.

joe

I have another train question -- off topic a bit (about Netherlands trains) but maybe someone knows this.

I was pleased to see that the Belgium rail site can generate customized schedules (PDFs) that are automatically emailed to me. (I've seen this on some other train sites as well.) This is an extremely useful service...I can print them out before I leave USA.

I can't find any similar function on the Netherlands NS site. Is there one? If so, how do I get to it?

Thanks.

SS

Thanks for the info, GeoffHamer.

Thanks for all the replys. We've decided to take the IC all the way, a bit longer of a trip but cheaper. One other train related question, when flying into Brussels what are the connections like to get the train to Bruge?