Deutsche Bahn wants to use Channel Tunnel

[Puggit]

Wants to offer services to Rotterdam, Cologne and Frankfurt.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11567753

Note to mods - this link is in the business section of the BBC website, not the travel section...

Edited by Puggit on Tuesday 19th October 08:27

[Tsippy]

It will probably still be cheaper to take the ferry and drive

[strudel]

Excellent, a viable alternative to flying. (When you consider check in times and luggage collection, flying isn't so quick short distance).

[TheCoolerKing]

Tsippy said:

It will probably still be cheaper to take the ferry and drive

Have used the ferry recently??

I say let me them do it the increased competition might make the ferry companies come to there senses about what a fair price to cross a very short stretch of water should be.

[Fittster]

TheCoolerKing said:

Tsippy said:

It will probably still be cheaper to take the ferry and drive

Have used the ferry recently??

I say let me them do it the increased competition might make the ferry companies come to there senses about what a fair price to cross a very short stretch of water should be.

Do you think ferry companies are making large profits?

[zcacogp]

Last April I got two people and one car across the channel to France and back a week later, with change from £40.

I think, with ferry companies, it's worth planning when you are going to travel as prices vary wildly. I agree they can be very pricey for some crossings.


Oli.

[Tsippy]

TheCoolerKing said:

Tsippy said:

It will probably still be cheaper to take the ferry and drive

Have used the ferry recently??

I say let me them do it the increased competition might make the ferry companies come to there senses about what a fair price to cross a very short stretch of water should be.

I use them several times a year, much cheaper than using Eurostar / train services.

[sjg]

strudel said:

Excellent, a viable alternative to flying. (When you consider check in times and luggage collection, flying isn't so quick short distance).

Or even longer distances. I've taken the train service from London down to Bourg St Maurice before (for snowboarding - it's near Les Arcs/Tignes and others). The daytime train service takes a very similar time to driving to the airport, parking up, lugging bags to a bus, checking in, going through security, waiting around, boarding, doing a quick flight down to Chambery or Geneva, waiting for bags and getting to a coach/taxi/hire car to do the last couple of hours by road.

Instead you go through the x-ray machine at the station 30 mins before the train departs, get on the train and stow luggage, sit down and relax in a comfy seat for 7 1/2 hours and watch the world go by at 180mph. Short taxi ride at the other end, or for Les Arcs straight up the funicular to the resort. Well worth the small premium over budget flights - it seems every time I fly now the experience has got a little more miserable than the last time.

If I could hop on a train at St Pancras and be in Amsterdam four hours later, or the german cities in five hours, I'd take them over flying any day. It's feasible now but in slightly more time and with changes, plus booking tickets can be an exercise in confusion.

[rs1952]

strudel said:

Excellent, a viable alternative to flying. (When you consider check in times and luggage collection, flying isn't so quick short distance).

Beware of making rash assumptions.

Some years ago I used to go to Oban quite frequently. So did a motor mechanic friend of mine. He used to drive, I went by air. He was convinced that, by the time you drove to Bristol airport, checked in, got through security, got on the plane, got off at Glasgow, waited form your baggage, signed up for a hire car and drove the last 90 miles, it was far far quicker to drive all the way.

I proved to him that, in fact, the flight method usually took 5 hours off the journey. 3.5 hours in actual travelling time and 1.5 hours in breaks/ refuelling stops that he hadn't factored in.

[hornetrider]

sjg said:

If I could hop on a train at St Pancras and be in Amsterdam four hours later, or the german cities in five hours, I'd take them over flying any day. It's feasible now but in slightly more time and with changes, plus booking tickets can be an exercise in confusion.

Agreed, having used Eurostar quite a few times I'd say its an excellent service. What's not to like about extending this to Frankfurt and the 'Dam?

[krallicious]

I remember driving along the A3 near Limburg last summer at around 160mph. The ICE train (one pictured by the BBC) past me like I was standing still!

[Ozzie Osmond]

Excellent news IMO. Getting some more use out of the tunnel has got to make sense.

The German ICE trains are very impressive and should make an easy match for the existing TGVs.

[john_p]

4 hours to Cologne ?

Hire a car .. few laps round the ring .. home in time for dinner

[tinman0]

Fittster said:

TheCoolerKing said:

Tsippy said:

It will probably still be cheaper to take the ferry and drive

Have used the ferry recently??

I say let me them do it the increased competition might make the ferry companies come to there senses about what a fair price to cross a very short stretch of water should be.

Do you think ferry companies are making large profits?

Not sure SeaFrance is making any profit!


(They had a suggestion line the other week, I suggested that they should give people the chance to offer Frequent Floater miles in return for coffee onboard etc....)

[zcacogp]

krallicious said:

I remember driving along the A3 near Limburg last summer at around 160mph. The ICE train (one pictured by the BBC) past me like I was standing still!

And remember boys and girls, speed kills!




Oli.

Not aimed at you k.

[chris_w]

tinman0 said:

Not sure SeaFrance is making any profit!

(They had a suggestion line the other week, I suggested that they should give people the chance to offer Frequent Floater miles in return for coffee onboard etc....)

The last SeaFrance ferry I went was more rust than steel, amazed it was still in service and the food was sub-school dinners standard, I couldn't believe any self-respecting frenchman could have served it up.

[DonkeyApple]

Would be great if they carried cars as well. It would mean an end to having to suffer Belgian roads on Euro hoons.

[F i F]

sjg said:

If I could hop on a train at St Pancras and be in Amsterdam four hours later, or the german cities in five hours, I'd take them over flying any day. It's feasible now but in slightly more time and with changes, plus booking tickets can be an exercise in confusion.

This ^^, also the long distance City Night Line sleeper train style services could do some good business I reckon.

http://www.seat61.com/citynightline.htm#video

[tinman0]

chris_w said:

tinman0 said:

Not sure SeaFrance is making any profit!

(They had a suggestion line the other week, I suggested that they should give people the chance to offer Frequent Floater miles in return for coffee onboard etc....)

The last SeaFrance ferry I went was more rust than steel, amazed it was still in service and the food was sub-school dinners standard, I couldn't believe any self-respecting frenchman could have served it up.

The current SeaFrance fleet isn't too bad, although I do think the Rodent should be torpedoed in the Channel for fun. But all of the current tubs are quite recent. Essentially they mothballed a bunch of older barges last year when they ran out of cash or something.

As for food on Seafrance, I have to be starving to eat on their boats nowadays. Raid Burger King at Dover before boarding, or hit MacDs in Calais before loading.

[F i F]

tinman0 said:

chris_w said:

tinman0 said:

Not sure SeaFrance is making any profit!

(They had a suggestion line the other week, I suggested that they should give people the chance to offer Frequent Floater miles in return for coffee onboard etc....)

The last SeaFrance ferry I went was more rust than steel, amazed it was still in service and the food was sub-school dinners standard, I couldn't believe any self-respecting frenchman could have served it up.

The current SeaFrance fleet isn't too bad, although I do think the Rodent should be torpedoed in the Channel for fun. But all of the current tubs are quite recent. Essentially they mothballed a bunch of older barges last year when they ran out of cash or something.

As for food on Seafrance, I have to be starving to eat on their boats nowadays. Raid Burger King at Dover before boarding, or hit MacDs in Calais before loading.

The term Frequent Floater conjures up certain thoughts.

As for ferry food, last month on Norfolkline sorry DFDS Dover-Dunkirk a beef stew/mash and nasty pasty and chips plus two teas cost us thick end of a twenty. Even Donington Park services look cheap compared to that.