Last year’s short break in Aachen left my wife and I left us thinking that a return trip was worthwhile. We noted that Maastricht was just a short train ride away, easily the subject of a day trip. We also hired a car for a day to visit Trier last year, but our day was curtailed by a brewing thunderstorm, and it was clear that there was plenty to justify staying overnight, and some attractive places to visit on the way and back (Monschau, the Mosel Valley), so we decided to undertake a second trip, again taking the train to Aachen, staying overnight, taking a day trip to Maastricht, then hiring a car for three days to “do” Trier, Monschau und the Mosel valley before returning to Aachen to take the train home. Unfortunately, the journey out was memorable for all the wrong reasons. So, here’s part one of a report. Please forgive its length
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Return to Aachen – the curse of DB strikes again!

Our outward journey (on 4 June) started well, and went well until we got to Brussels. The train from Goring & Streatley ran to time, and although TfL said that the Circle Line was suspended, and we travelled early for our 17-04 Eurostar to Brussels Midi because of the strike action that day, there was a Circle Line at Paddington and we even passed another at Edgeware Road going the other way! The Eurostar also ran to time, which was as well as there was only 17 minutes before our connecting train, the 20-22 ICE 319 to Cologne and Frankfurt, was due to depart.

I’m not a great fan of Brussels Midi, which is probably the least impressive terminus for the cross-channel Eurostar services. At least the signage for finding our platform from the international arrival platforms is clear, and our train was clearly shown as departing from platform 8. This is an island platform, with platform faces as platforms 7 and 8. This was crowded when we arrived, but the track at platform 8 was occupied by an empty three-coach local train, and the screen sign said something in Flemish that clearly meant “don’t get on”. An SNCB (Belgian railways) train for Liege was loading on platform 7. There then followed a series of announcements in four languages (English, French, Flemish and German) alternatively informing us that the train would be departing from platform 7 or platform 8. Eventually the empty train was shown as a local train departing at 21-09.

We waited for another 30 minutes or so. Our fellow passengers were clearly a mixture of business travellers and tourists. As SNCB cannot sell tickets valid on DB ICE trains for travel between Belgian stations, it followed that we were all going at least as far as Aachen. Eventually at about 20-50 a DB ICE train arrived at platform 7, and we all boarded. The train was full. We shared a four-seat table with two Germans, and struck up a conversation. After (the usual?) complaints about DB’s service generally, the story that emerged was that something had gone awry on the high-speed line between Liege and Aachen (something to do with the OHL), as a result of which both the previous ICE to Cologne and Frankfurt and a Eurostar (formerly Thalys) train along the same line had been cancelled, hence the large number of waiting passengers. The female German who shared our table had been sent back to Midi from Brussels Nord. The train was understandably full. But worse was yet to come.

Firstly, no sooner had we all boarded than the on-board signage showed another 30-minute delay to our departure. Soon this changed back, but there was a message that there would be a diversion (unspecified) along our route. We set off, but stopped at Brussels Nord from where one of our companions had been sent back to Midi and picked up some more passengers there. We were at last on our way, taking the high-speed line to Liege, taking comfort from the speeds of about 260km/hr shown on the in-carriage electronic signage. But as we pulled in to Liege Guillemins, there was an announcement that the service would be terminated there, and we were all to leave the train and proceed to the station forecourt, where buses would come to take us on to Aachen.
 
So, we all duly disembarked. I’d guess that there were over 400 of us, as Wikipedia indicates that all the varieties of ICE 3 trains carry around 450 and it seemed full. We certainly stretched all the way along the frontage of the station, many well-loaded down with luggage. We chose a spot near the middle, and were joined by the other German passenger who shared our table, who introduced himself as Daniel, who had been attending an EU meeting in Brussels, and who was travelling back home to Leverkusen via Cologne. By now it was well past the timetabled 21-33 arrival time at Aachen.

After some considerable wait, two SNCB employees appeared and reported that buses were on their way from Aachen. Eventually, just two German-registered buses arrived, loaded with passengers from Aachen. After they disembarked, the drivers closed the doors and changed their blind signage to wording that Daniel confirmed meant that they had finished for the day. The SNCB employees spoke to the drivers, but reported back that they had no instructions to pick anyone up, and would soon be on their way home.

Daniel and I both tried the DB general help number, but this simply got a pre-recorded message saying that the service was now closed for the night. Recalling my experience at Osnabruck last year, when there were at least staff on duty at the station office until late at night, I found a phone number for Aachen station.  A call to this number was answered by a somewhat grumpy person, who under questioning from Daniel disclosed that he was not aware of buses coming from Aachen to Liege, only some to get people between Aachen and Cologne. He said that the “rule” was that if a problem arose in Belgium, it was for the Belgians to arrange buses, if it was in Germany, then it was for DB to do so. He said that there was no-one higher up the management tree who could be contacted to try to resolve the plight of several hundred passengers outside Liege Guillemins. They were slowly being reduced in number by few taxis that appeared, apparently pre-booked which filled and departed. By this time, timetabled departures had reduced to a couple of bus services run by SNCB, one of which arrived and was soon rammed with waiting passengers, who looked like they were in for a very uncomfortable ride. We were not close enough to the place this bus stopped to have any chance of boarding, even if we wanted to.

As it was past 23-00, it was clearly time to try a plan B. We had booked an Ibis hotel in Aachen near the station. I noticed an Ibis Styles near Guillemins station, so walked over and spoke to the receptionist. She informed me that not only were they full, but there was a conference under way in Liege so most hotels were also full. When I asked about taxis, she said that due to problems on the trains that evening, they could not book any taxis from the town centre, as none were free for many hours.

I then spent some time on my mobile, Googling hotel and accommodation website and did find a budget hotel about 5 miles away that did have rooms free, but how to get there? Daniel had the Uber app on his phone, but this showed no available cars within 20km. Eventually one was located, and Daniel ordered it, on the basis that it would take us to the budget hotel for which we made a provisional booking by phone. It took a long time to arrive, but eventually near midnight a Tesla pulled up and we got in. The driver suggested he take us to Aachen as Uber could supply the requisite certificates for a DB claim, and that DB did meet such claims. We tried the Ibis in Aachen where my wife and I were booked, and they had a spare room for Daniel, so we cancelled our provisional bookings outside Liege and set off, arriving at our hotel at 00-45 – just over three hours late. When we left Liege there were still well over 100 passengers outside the front of the station, with taxis arriving at lengthy intervals to collect some.

From conversations while waiting, it appeared that the problem blocking the high-speed line arose at about 16-00, consistent with there being two previous cancelled high speed/express services. But there are hourly departures from Brussels for Aachen, with one change at Liege, via slower services until 21-56. These take together between two hours 26 minutes to two hours 46 minutes to complete the journey along the old line between Liege and Aachen. So why didn’t someone start making arrangements for Aachen passengers to at least be offered this straight away, and if the problem was not fixed by the time our 20-22 was due to depart, recommend this as there would still have been two services available (and, if required, ensure acceptance of the ICE tickets on SNCB)? Why was our ICE dispatched before the line was clear? Why were we told that buses would be available at Liege when clearly no arrangements had been made? Surely someone must have appreciated that finding ten buses (at least, for 400+ passengers, many with luggage) and drivers available and with enough permitted hours left was likely to be impossible at this time of day? And why, when it must have been clear that there was a problem was there no line of communication between SNCB and DB to try to resolve matters?

Needless to say, this second (and much worse) failure in two trips using DB has undermined my confidence in using them, at least for long-distance travel.

Next part – a positive cross-border experience….

 

TfW wants to extend their new Cardiff to Bristol TM stopping services (starting Sept 26) to begin at Milford Haven or Fishguard (by extending the route of existing TfW services). The rationale is so that passengers west of Cardiff don't have to change trains to get to Bristol TM.

At face value, they want to offer customers in west Wales new journey options. But the cynical might wonder whether it's an attempt to edge GWR out of West Wales and reduce the viability of Lumo's planned Carmarthen to London service.

 
Picking next Monday (15/06/26) at random RTT indicates that there is a half-hourly service for most of the day from CDF to BRI with alternate England-bound trains going to either PMH or, predominantly, TAU & EXD.
The return Wales-bound trains all terminate at CDF.
All of these services are run by GWR
So I think that Transport for Wales (TfW) have a valid complaint about their customers in South Wales, west of Cardiff, being poorly served. Perhaps in the forthcoming brave new world of GBR, when revenue abstraction should no longer be an issue, westerly extension of a few services, if justified by passenger loadings, might happen.   
 

 
You had me worried, and thinking 'which money tree do these muppets think the £45Bn is going to come from', until I read the press release and saw that the figure was £4.5Bn over 5 years. Which given the parlous state of the UK economy is still not going to happen. 

 
Hot off the press this morning:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cycling-and-walking-boom-with-45-billion-for-thousands-of-new-routes-and-safer-crossings

Not sure how long it will survive. If departmental budgets have to be cut to fund defence, my bet is it will be cycling, walking and trains that will get the chop not cars. How much will the HS2 for cars cost (new Thames tunnel)?

Hope I am wrong.

 
Would appear the route has reopened but at reduced line speed https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/nuneaton-20260611/

 
Politicians often want two things: money and publicity.

 
Could any one explain what exactly TfW want,I was under the impression that TfW was already in control of its trains in Wales and routes.

 

Im sure Siemens have said their new new battery emu can do 50 miles on batteries.  Certainly if they terminated at bedwyn  network rail should install a charging bar in the turnback sidings maybe similar at Westbury or Frome


Edit note: Quote marks amended, for clarity. CfN.

 
As bridge bashes go, that one was fairly comprehensive. 

 
Significant damage to the bridge.

BBC news: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn07xyydz9no

The location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/pXC9WQYqcgvFdMGF8

Mark

 
There are already some services which continue to Frome or Warminster to avoid blocking a platform at Westbury while they lay-over.   They do provide extra services for those stations but I suspect some of them might not run if they didn't have to.

 

This proposal wasn't covered elsewhere, Noggin, so thank you for posting here about it. 

As it has encouraged some discussion, I have expanded the heading of your topic, to hopefully attract even more attention from readers searching for key words, for example.

CfN. 

 
... though, given that this is just part of the station building, and that extensive station buildings aren't something that are so useful to the railway now, its future may be that it's retained as a set of trackside dwellings.

Mark

 
Ah, here it is. This could be land-banked for the Dartmoor northern route, but in the short term earn its keep for the industry - and keep itself tidy and secure - as rented housing.

Mark

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/173859041#/

 

That is the suggested linkage.  Westbury is already so tight for space that it leads to reliability problems when things don't go exactly to plan.

 
Would the introduction of an hourly Paddington - Westbury service be dependent on the reinstatement of the 4th platform at Westbury?

 

Goodness, there's so many incendiary phrases and words in that article that it could have been written by the RMT! 

 

Totally agree. One single focus on reinstating the 5 miles from Bere Alston to Tavistock, with increased frequency Bere Alston-Plymouth North Road as an added benefit, assuming alternate hourly services from Tavistock and Gunnislake to Plymouth. Incidentally, the former LSWR station in Tavistock is up for sale....(maybe it doesn't include any trackbed, though).


 


 

 

They seem to be raising the stakes.............

https://streamlinefeed.co.ke/news/plaid-cymru-demands-historic-welsh-rail-devolution-in-fierce-westminster-railways-bill-debate

 

You can say the same thing about the Severn Beach Line in Bristol though.

It goes a long way round, Temple Meads is in an awkward location for many and almost all of the stations are well served by frequent bus services.

But history proves that almost every time the service frequency has been increased, the number of users has increased. It's still 2 tph for much of the day with slow diesel units but the ridership is 8x in the last 30 years. The reality is that for a significant part of the city's population it is more useful than bus alone, not to mention that it feeds into the wider regional/national rail network.

 
Yup, posturing should be reserved for Tavistock (and regarding Tavistock shouldn't be posturing, there should be progress).

Mark

 
Thinking of through passengers... how much suppressed demand, do you think there is? ('Suppressed' as the timetable's not really an attractive offer to potential through passengers, and if, say, it went half-hourly, with one service as existing and the second one calling at say BoA, Trowbridge, Westbury and then through to Romsey & Southampton...).

(Apologies for the fantasy timetabling. My memories of the Cardiff - Waterloo services when they skipped both Westbury and Salisbury and ran Bath to Waterloo in 2h 10m are far too clear...)

Mark

 

Yes, to a very large extent I would suggest.

 
Here's the advert for the German / Belgian service:



Not the market they're aiming at - and indeed the market has probably gone away - but what a pity there's no cross channel service from Ostende any more

 

Indeed - busy train in sections, though through passengers are rare as hen's teeth.    10 minutes at Westbury, and 14 minutes at Salisbury give people a change chance to use the station loos.


Edit note: Typo corrected, for clarity. CfN.

 
Long time to keep your legs crossed!

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10
Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10.

Toilet facilities are not available.

Disabled toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.

 

Absolutely right.

Areas like Plympton, Plymstock and Laira have excellent bus services into and out of the City Centre.

Tavistock does stand out however as being "out on a limb"

To an extent this is a local MP posturing and he would be wise not to raise expectations.

 
Looking from "afar" - it strikes me that Tavistock could really do with a metro rail re-opening and as it's so close to Plymouth and part of the same economic area ... but once you get to St Budeaux, the line is paralleled by a good road all the way to North Road, from where the road usefully branches away to serve the city centre.   There are, similarly, good bus service from much closer to the centre out past Laira to Marsh Mills.   That does not necessarily rule it out, but there are challenges in providing something that will overlap for so much of the way with other provision already made.