Scott, the first train was a so-called Intercity Direct. You only need a supplement on that service if using it between Schiphol and Rotterdam. And you didn't need a supplement with an international ticket. Also, you didn't use the old skool route. The Intercity Direct uses the high speed line. Remember the 2nd train? It starts at Amsterdam, uses the old route to Rotterdam via Haarlem, and continues towards Roosendaal and Vlissingen. Oh and btw, those loco-hauled Intercity Direct trains are currently being replaced by ICNG units. Less seats, but less vandalized ....yet.
I never pay for the HSL. Either by avoiding it, or with an international ticket. It's - for the time being - a worthless service! It's not worth the supplement! Rest has been said.
Scott stop painting the toilets! I do a lot of research on rail journeys throughout Europe, but it seems most routes have track works or landslides at the moment! It's tricky to get a train all the way through any route! I am still watching though so don't know yet if you've made it...
You have become a Sunday institution for me: Morning outing with my nearly 1 year old son Super Sunday at 2pm and 4:30pm Planes, Trains Everything at 7pm with the Chinese on its way Usually one of the big boys in LaLiga are playing at 8pm More often then not a film at 10:15pm
God bless Thomas Cook and his invaluable publication. The train traveller's Bible! In the early 2000's one of my favourite jaunts was to do Calais to Amsterdam as cheaply as possible. I'd get the last train from Ramsgate to Dover, have a couple of hours kip in the ferry terminal, 2.30 crossing to Calais, and I was off! 5.30 commuter train to Dunkirk, bus to Adinkerke from the station forecourt, then the coastal tram all the way through to Knokke. Bus to Breskens, (excuse any misspellings!) ferry to Vlissingen, then the stopping train to Amsterdam. It took forever, but it cost next to nothing and I enjoyed every minute!
i love the fact that you are stressing over an 11min connection time. Im an everyday train passenger to go to UNIin Brussels and have to take 2-3 trains in every direction. I only start to stress when i have a one minute connection time and not two haha
the first train has the best seats of all Dutch trains. I can understand it may have been dirty, but you were definitely lucky with that double-decker that you took after.
I made part of this journey in reverse last November, when trying to get from Brussels to Tilburg. The InterCity train from Brussels to Amsterdam I was supposed to take as far as Breda got cancelled, and the next wasn't for an hour. I boarded the next train heading towards Antwerp -- mainly so I could sit down and drink my coffee -- and I looked up other connections on my phone. The train I was on was going as far as Essen, where I could get the local train to Roosendaal and then an NS train to Breda. This got me to Breda only slightly before the later direct train from Brussels was supposed to have done -- but the detour turned out to be worth it, as that later one was delayed and would have caused me to miss to connection to Tilburg..... It's annoying that the Belgian IC train doesn't continue those few extra minutes across the border, as that would make connecting to the Netherlands much easier -- presumably there are regulatory/technical issues preventing that. The length of time it waits in Essen before heading south again is certainly enough time to get to Roosendaal and back. But there are remarkably few rail routes across the Dutch/Belgian border -- the hourly Brussels-Amsterdam, the hourly local train to Roosendaal, and local trains between Liege and Maastricht are all of them apart from the occasional Thalys/Eurostar. Eindhoven is only 20km from the Belgian border but has no trains across it!
@MallardMan1980, there is no rail connection from Belgium to Eindhoven. There is one a few kilometers south, from Weert. But there is no direct rail service from Weert to Belgium, although there are some talks of introducing a rail service.
You are right, Essen in Belgium is a little bit smaller. The population there is about 19,000 compared to its namesake in Germany with a population of about 583,000
Enjoyed another one of your videos thank you. I'd like to mention your background music selection at around 5 minutes was awesome. Okay the seats looked comfortable too but I'm just saying a notable fine tune, and you seem to find them.
Did this trip from liege to roosendaal via brussels this summer with the youth holiday week ticket, €19 and the -26 ticket from essen to roosendaal was around €4 Was really impressed with the belgian railways, very rarely delayed and good quality affordable trains
Late to the party. The train you took between Roosendaal and Essen continues to Antwerpen Centraal and Puurs. It's my local train. And Antwerp is a nice station to transfer from.
10 месяцев назад
Your Essen-Antwerpen-Brussels-Charleroi train did halt at Bruxelles-Midi after Bruxelles-Central. All trains calling in Bruxelles-Central do call at Bruxelles-Midi.
The first train was the ICD which is awful. They are being replaced by the ICNG which is one of Europe's best. I found it quite hilarious how you went from the ICD to the old VIRM. Currently, VIRM 1,2,3 are refurbished. You were in VIRM 4 which is set to have its revision in 2024.
Brings back memories for me since it was the summer of 1989 that I first tasted railways on the continent, and after docking at Vlissengen I made my way to Roosendaal, dumped my bags in a hotel and was off with my Benelux Rover. One significant city absent from that trip was actually Brussels - since rectified. Since I was using so many local trains, I did not use the 'Cook Book' and instead acquired the timetable books of both Dutch and Belgian railways. I remember having to send off for the Belgian one by post - somewhere in the west of London as far as I recall. Back in '89 Antwerp was not a through station, but those EMUs like the ones you saw at Essen were going 34 years ago!
yes, built in the 1970s/80s when NS still cared about passenger comfort. They're all being retired and scrapped, so NS no longer bothers to maintain them.
There is actually a 'normal' train from Amsterdam to Brussels. In fact it is like the first train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, but without the surcharge for the international journey. The train itself is not very good (as was clearly demonstrated in the video), but will soon be replaced by the smart new intercity trains (ICNG or InterCity New Generation).
Scott loves trains like me us that was beautiful border station scott and what could posdibly go wrong ? Norhing you made it g8 stuff scott enjoyed thanks
Nice low-speed trip. Two weekends ago I did a similar thing Munich-Leipzig and back. My plan was initially to use two different routes: the outward leg via Nuremberg-Saalfeld-Jena, the return via Gera-Hof-Regensburg. The regional-express train to Nuremberg was expected to depart 45' behind schedule (door failure at new, yet very unreliable stock). I would have missed my connection from Nürnberg Hbf with almost two hours waiting, the risk to miss an appointment convinced me to take a last-minute ICE. Pretty expensive decision that cost me 135 € (for less than 500 km). I really enjoyed the return trip, especially on the Alex Hof-Munich, anyway. Old style cars with compartments and even windows you can open.
Great vlog as always Scott. Thibk we all have a bit of travel anxiety when we are going into the unknown or not knowing whats going to happen with connections or rail replacement. Hope all is well, take care
The trains you got on were actually pretty well maintained. First train you got was an old one (40 or so years old) slated for retirement and scrapping, so NS probably no longer bothered to clean out the graffiti. But graffiti and broken toilets are the norm rather than the exception on Dutch trains, sadly. And many station buildings aren't much better.
There isn’t a supplement for regular intercity trains, just for the “high speed” ones between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. You could have avoided this by taking an intercity via the ‘slow’ route. Not necessarily for saving the small surcharge but mostly because it’s way more reliable… And a better view.
I recall back in '72-'73, it required a suppliment to ride one of the ICE or TEE (TransEuropraExpress) trains. Apparently the way I traveled on mostly DB (Deutsche Bundesbahn) trains in the 70s doen't work anymore.. I never had a reservation on any train I rode during my year in Germany. It was 1) arrive at station, 2) buy ticket, 3) get on train.. I had a close friend who was in the US Air Force and was stationed at Bitburg Air base, near the Luxembourg/German border. I, being in the US Army, was stationed in Bamberg, way over between Wurtzburg and Nurenburg. Several times during my year in Germany I made the 10 hour train trip over to Bitburg to visit my friend. Loved those train trips..
@@lvsluggo007 you can still do that, but the railways took a page from the airlines' book and started selling tickets with a discount if booked in advance, especially for longer distance trains. Full price is still there (and no reservation mandatory in Germany, although it is often a good idea on those longer distance trains), but Sparpreis and Supersparpreis tickets are a lot cheaper, e.g. €27.90 for Berlin-Frankfurt in 3 months for a specific train or €105.90 and more for tomorrow...
As some people have mentioned in the comments, the 'old' line goes via Haarlem and The Hague HS, although the Schiphollijn opened already in 1981, going via the Airport to Leiden, skipping Haarlem (but not yet The Hague). The train you took was a so-called IC Direct, because it uses the HSL Zuid (opened in 2009 for traffic), but you're very right to say it's not a HST. It's to pay for the HSL Zuid that you pay a supplement. The Belgian cross-border train is a so-called Class75, dating from the second half of the 70s and thus close to 50 years old. The main reason why they are still in use is precisely for this line, newer trains don't have technical approval to run in the Netherlands. Something to do with the safety systems installed... While you could have stayed on that train all the way to Antwerpen, I understand you'd want to change onto the IC waiting in Essen, especially if that's the rolling stock (it can be about anything, though) This train does not run on weekends, though, so you'd definitely change in Antwerpen, then. Often from a bus, btw, as most weekends, the line is closed to renew the catenary system... Lastly, the IC did stop at Brussels Midi (or Zuid, as it's called in Dutch), it's the next stop, and all trains stopping in Centraal will stop in Zuid/Midi or came from there.) And you should really check the main ticket hall in Brussels-Central in lovely art deco. Most trains in Belgium pass through here...
Last year me and my daughter did this trip but it was a direct service with nl. Took about the same time. 2 first class returns were half the price of thalys.
Roosendaal exists mainly as a border point for ticketing and route purposes eg if you had to write a ticket from London to Amsterdam via Ostende in the days before Eurostar.
Most of what I wanted to say (correct?) has already been written, so just an add-on about Roosendaal. Did you notice the huge wide platform? Really quite something and in the 70s there used to be a guy with a trolley who went along the train calling out and selling coffee, tea and lemonade, cigarettes, chocolate and chocomel (chocolate drink). People would lean out of the window and buy his wares. There were also some interesting train movements south of the station as trains to Belgium would switch from right hand to left hand running. As you said, the border is very hard to spot; there is what's known as "the sluice", a gap in the catenary where the Dutch 1500dc ends and Belgium 3kv starts. One pantograph used to have to be dropped and another raised. The Belgian units now just run on half power for the few kilometres into Roosendaal.
@@briangentle5515 As I understand it, Netherlands used to be left hand running but the Germans forced them to adopt right-hand during WW2, and after the war they never switched back.
@@stuartlong6217 The old Holland Railway ran right hand but the old State Railways was left hand. Sometime during the slow merger from 1917-1938 (when NS was legally formed and became a fully government owned company) the changeover happened.
Haha what luck, at 4:10 you were standing right next to the brand new ICNG, the new 200km/h few seat machinery that will take over the service from the old IC coaches you were initially on!
I bet that most of the Aerosol spray paint sold by retailers is used to commit graffiti vandalism. Why is the Dutch government not cracking down on this blight and promoting their railways to be safe, CLEAN, reliable, and in good working order?. This, surly, is leaving a lasting and very negative impression of Dutch infrastructure. 😢. Great vlog, Scott.
Great route. Love the off the beaten path routes. Shame you had some bad luck with that first train, soon they will get replaced by brand new units. The regular intercities can be hit and miss as well with cleanliness. Your introduction missed the option of the regular direct Amsterdam-Brussels intercity train, which the direct descendent from the one in your old timetable. Now with same route as the Thalys via the highspeed lines but slower and similarly priced to the route you took now. The Doubledecker intercity you boarded in Rotterdam actually originates Amsterdam and follows the original route of your old thomascook timetable and won't require the supplement.
An NS daughter used to have the franchise to run Scotland's trains but that was cancelled as the service was rubbish. NS can be a hit or a miss, their excuse is usually 'we've ordered new stock'. Belgium had the first railway on the continent, build with the help of the UK and 'drive'on the left as in the UK.
@Planes, Trains, Everything. while you where talking about the Thalys wich is Eurostar Red now at 0:48 1 of these trains arrives at Amsterdam Centraal coming from the Watergraafsmeer railway yard and at Rotterdam Centraal while the NS Virm arrived as Intercity from Amsterdam Centraal via Haarlem and Leiden Centraal at the background 2 sets ICNG departed as Intercity to Eindhoven Centraal via Breda and the supplement is only on the IC Direct and IC Brussel between Schiphol Airport and Rotterdam Centraal and on the ICE to Frankfurt am Main HBF/Basel SBB between Amsterdam Centraal and Arnhem Centraal
You will be hard pushed to find a better cup of coffee anywhere than in the Netherlands , Coffee and two croquettes always on the menu whenever I am passing through
Netherlands trains, are normally pretty good and run to time. Belgium can be sketchy with random strikes be prepared occasionally for immigration checking identity and passports.
In 1984 went on a family holiday staying over Xmas in Amsterdam and night train to Paris for new year. We travelled over via the hook , I remember the Paris train stopping for a while at St Quentin, returned to London via Dieppe Newhaven ferry.
hey scotty where you were waiting for your 2nd train, behind you was the new ns train that will soon run between amsterdam and brussels instead of that old intercity train
Sorry for the terrible state of your ICM-train. These are due to be fased out 40-year old trains. That is probably why the NS doesn't bother cleaning them anymore.
I love random ways to reach places. I did this route back in 2001 as part of an inter rail trip. The timetable showed the train went direct but we had to change at the border. This meant a train load moved from a nice long Dutch IC train to an overcrowded cramp emu which had seen better days. Having just returned from Bologna I took their regional trains from Venice and across to Lucca. 2 were very new and one needed a good refit of the toilets. Great value though for walk on fares compared to the IC trains and so easy to book on Trenitalia app. Later this month I will be using Spanish railways for the first time.
Nice! If you really want to do a 1989 comparison you can take the direct regular intercity train from Amsterdam to Brussels which follows basically the same route, except for two parts. In NL via Schiphol (which is shorter) and in Belgium via Brussels Airport (which is longer).
I lived quite near Centraal for a bit, which is certainly preferable to living near Nord or Midi. Used to take the train to one of the two Mechelen stations. I'd love to say Brussels is not without its charm, but tbh I'm pretty sure every other city in Belgium is nicer.
Used to use Roosendaal years ago when I used to visit family living near Eindhoven. Used to get the Eurostar to Brussels, train from Brussels to Roosendaal as there was a direct train, train from there to Breda and then Breda to Helmond. Quite often have a long wait in Roosendaal as it was always tight connections so any small delay and we miss the connected train.
The first IC train are trainsets that are currently being replaced by the ICNG (InterCity New Generation). These old IC trains were built in 1980 and were initially out of service in 2006. However, due to the (high-speed) Fyra problems, these old IC wagons were temporarily put back into service in 2013. But temporary turned out to be 10 years. And by the way, in your videoclip, the new ICNG train was right behind you at Rotterdam Central Station. And the normal (old) route from Amsterdam to Rotterdam goes via Haarlem/Gouda/The Hague/Delft (the tourist route).
Having spent a week in the Netherlands riding the trains I was interested in your latest posting. There are a lot of positives about the rail system there. No need for advanced ticket purchases, there are no real discounts. No need even to buy a ticket just tap in and out of ticket barriers with your bank card. The web services are also great showing trains, connections, fares real time punctuality and connectivity to buses. The one thing that probably is not worth it, other than on the busy Brussels/Antwerp to Amsterdam line which can get very busy in the summer, is First Class which is very little different to second. No catering services either.
Your worries for the 11 minute connection made me giggle. In the Netherlands, such a connection is considered generous. Commuters are used to making connections of 5 minutes or sometimes even less. The punctuality is good enough that you can rely on tight connections. That Thomas Cook book seems like a real asset to have. I'm going to hunt for that one, because I have an idea for a similar trip on a train from the past.
Looking forward to a stopping train Paisley to London video: Paisley-Ayr-Kilmarnock-Carlisle-Barrow-Preston-Manchester-Stoke-Birmingham-Northampton-Watford (change to overground) - London Euston. Should take you all day! Lots of connections and lots of different local trains. Your reward will be the sea views along the coast near Sellafield.
That was fun. I enjoy these kinds of trips. I recently made a multi part trip from my town to Toronto Pearson Airport. Trip to the airport was one bus and two trains. Trip back was two trains. “What could go wrong,” well nothing going but on the return trip I made my second train with 10 minutes to spare due my flight back to Pearson being significantly delayed. It all worked out. Even if I had missed the train it would have eventually worked out. The journey was fun and I saved money. An airport shuttle round trip would have cost around $200 CDN, while my way, using senior discounts cost $19 round trip. Cheers
Talking about "old skool" train timetables.. When I came back from my year in Germany ('72-'73), I brought back my "bible" I used on my weekends off, that being the 1 1/2 inch thick DB (Deutsche Bundesbahn) railroad timetible. Unfortuantly after all of the moves I've made since then I seem to have lost it, though the last time I saw it, around 1997, it was falling apart.
And this was'nt even te slowest way to get into Brussel from Amsterdam. There is a slower way with de NS sprinters from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, and from Rotterdam to Dordrecht, then take the NS sprinter from Dordrecht to Roosendaal. In Roosendaal you can take the NMBS stoptrein to Antwerpen-Berchem, and at last the SNCB Stoptrein to Brussel-centraal.
My brother used to live in Roosedaal when he worked in Holland! When he had a weekend off he would either go and watch RBC (the local football club) or catch a train to Rotterdam! He even went to Utrecht once as he said the trains in Holland were very good! ⚽️👍🏻
I did a similar situation where I got off a station so that I can ride on a different company. For instance, I went to Cambridge using Greater Anglia, East Midlands Railway, Great Northern and Cross Country. And if your wondering if this is allowed, yes unless its an advance ticket or stated otherwise (used off peal ticket).
Your second train was an Interregional Scott. There are brand new ICs starting to come in service. These have a top speed of 200 km/h but only useable on the HSL. NS elsewhere limited to 140 km/h. Great video, shame it was so stressful for you.
the graffiti on dutch trains is apart of the charm everything else you mentioned is awful for a national operator but i think some of it is apart of the charm it makes me smile when i see it more often than not
Reminds me of the old service from Bad Bentheim in Germany to Hengelo in the Netherlands where you got off the German train at Bad Bentheim Station and crossed the platform to a Dutch train with steps by each door and a ramp on one carriage. Then crossed the border to Hengelo and changed into a Dutch train. I believe they have local dual system trains running in both regions and the cross border express trains are also dual system.
On the subject of graffiti: it’s an eye sore but what is the point of cleaning if they just insist on vandalising it again? As Harry and Paul said in Dutch policemen: “if we are legalising burglary then the problem goes away!” Stress; had plenty of that trying to make connections on that route trying to make the hydrofoil in Ostend. We had a huge delay on one occasion just out of Rotterdam but eventually the train started picking up speed and was really shifting. The conductor came on the tannoy and just said “gaat ie lekker hard, hè!” Something like “cor, it’s going fast!” The timetable: it’s a fantastic resource those European services from Hoek van Holland were amazing. I travelled in 1984 on the Moscow service all the way to…Utrecht! We were not allowed in the Russian coaches and had to sit in ancient plan k rijtuigen which were too big for me to rest my head on!
Just returned from the Netherlands and the toilets where in terrible state and the fares are very expensive. I would have preferred to see you on one of the famous ICM sets the 'Koploper' absolute beasts when they move....Amersfoot Centraal is a very interesting station with a number of locos stabled nearby.
The Supplement is only for that intercity service, as it goes over de High-Speed Line. The non-'high speed' intercity service takes about 2 times as long.
Quite surprised you talked so good about the train you got from Rotterdam Centraal to Roosendaal. That subseries of double decker has a horrible reputation with first class travellers in The Netherlands due to its horrible comfort, second class being better than first. For record, That subseries is so horrible that i tend to skip the train if theres a better train on the next one than the train you got. (VIRM4)
The Intercity Direct trains are all in the middle of getting replaced. You can see the new ones at 04:11. So, maybe maintanance on the old sets is minimal. No excuse though, that was pretty horrible.
I used Dutch trains on a regular basis some 20 years ago, it is good to know that they haven't been cleaned since then. Did you have to buy 4 separate tickets for this journey?
