Right?! It's unbelievable how cheap the tickets are, and the overall quality of service is way nicer than almost everything we have in the US. Hopefully the new Avelia Liberty trainsets will bring us closer to what Europe has, but we've certainly got a long way to go before we reach that level.
Thalys has a non competing agreement with the state operator NS, it mean that you can’t book the train on a domestic route, only international travel are allowed. That’s why the train wasn’t on the display and the "do not board". I don’t how you manage to book your ticket. Also the outlet was on the trash can at 6:35.
Yep, it was really annoying. I had initially assumed that my train would be departing from platform 1, as that's where Eurostar usually departs from, so I'm glad I checked with the NS website. It's understandable why they don't display the train, however, as you need an external ticket to board, and with most passengers having regular NS tickets, the easiest way to reduce confusion is to just not display it at all.
@@marcogeurts9881 the NS services may be frequent, but the Thalys is once an hour, and I really wanted to ride on a TGV before I had to leave the Netherlands.
wait a minute, the thalys is cheaper than the ns loco hauled coaches, between amsterdam and rotterdam? Damn, that is sad, but how did you find the tickets, the thalys site does not list this as an option.
@Lonestar Trip Reports at 3:48 the Intercity service 1183 with 1 NS BR 186 Traxx loco at the front and 1 BR186 Traxx loco at the back and between 9 NS ICRmh stock(where the cab car serves as a normal car because they can only function as cabcar with the NS Class 1700 locomotieven )arrives at Rotterdam Centraal heading from Den Haag Centraal to Eindhoven Centraal and at 3:57 1 HLE28(NMBS Traxx locomotives) with 7 ICRmh carriages and 1 NS BR 186 as IC Brussel 9271 arrives at Rotterdam Centraal heading from Brussel Zuid/Midi to Amsterdam Centraal and at the time that you departed with Thalys PBA trainset 4539 as Thalys 9985 from Paris Gare du Nord heading to Amsterdam Centraal the NS ICMm trainset 4023 departed from track 14 as Intercity 587 from Rotterdam Centraal all the way to Groningen and at track 7a the NS SLT Sprinter 4 car set number 2415 combined with a 6 car ser number 2616 wich departed from Rotterdam Centraal at 21:54 as Sprinter 4078 to Uitgeest via Gouda and Amsterdam Centraal where the train arrived at 23:11 that was the time that you where already at Amsterdam Centraal
From what I understand, it's an onward travel option operated by Thalys, wherein passengers can book a ride to and from stations across Thalys's network. I'm not sure what the cost of actually using the service is, but it's free for Premium customers.
I found it very weird that your train wasn’t listed and I’m not sure most would have been able to remain as calm about it as you seemed to have been. I also didn’t notice any interaction with personnel at the station to ask for information.
It's a bit weird but NS does this more often and it also isn't as outrageous as you'd think. Basically no one except for the weirdest and richest train nerds will take the Thalys up north from Rotterdam. The IC-direct services are far more convenient, frequent and cheap (since it's also only 40 minutes and almost no faster than the regular trains, having a high speed train going there doesn't make much sense). Therefore the Rotterdam stop basically functions as a get off stop, since everyone will be coming from Paris or sometimes Brussels. So at times when NS finds it inconvenient to have people board the train that people usually don't have tickets for anyway, which takes longer to board and is often overloaded, they choose to not put it onto departure boards. I don't like this either, because they sometimes also do this on the more convenient Arnhem - Amsterdam route too and it is really confusing, while train travel is usually really straightforward here.
Yeah, it's not great, but not terrible. I agree that fast mobile plans would work significantly better, but for passengers without that kind of service, then it's nice to have the option there.
as someone who takes the Northeast Regional Amtrak regularly, that price is mindblowing. And the whole train and station are so nice!
Right?! It's unbelievable how cheap the tickets are, and the overall quality of service is way nicer than almost everything we have in the US. Hopefully the new Avelia Liberty trainsets will bring us closer to what Europe has, but we've certainly got a long way to go before we reach that level.
Thalys has a non competing agreement with the state operator NS, it mean that you can’t book the train on a domestic route, only international travel are allowed. That’s why the train wasn’t on the display and the "do not board". I don’t how you manage to book your ticket.
Also the outlet was on the trash can at 6:35.
Why even open the doors at Rotterdam, then? Seems to be a something of a "secret" ticket, to me, considering he managed to score a meal out of it.
@@h8GW For people that departed from Paris/Brussels and have Rotterdam as their final destination to disembark
Amsterdam to Rotterdam is around 85km. The 300kph train should take only 20minutes. 👍👍👍
If only it were that easy! Station stops and speed restrictions along the way mean the average speed is significantly less than 300 kph.
Out of all of the deserts you have had on trains was this the best?
It's certainly the best so far. I'll bet there are better out there, and I'll bet I'll come across more than one that top this in my travels.
extremely confusing that there is no information/wrong information on the departure boards...
Yep, it was really annoying. I had initially assumed that my train would be departing from platform 1, as that's where Eurostar usually departs from, so I'm glad I checked with the NS website. It's understandable why they don't display the train, however, as you need an external ticket to board, and with most passengers having regular NS tickets, the easiest way to reduce confusion is to just not display it at all.
@@LonestarTrips yeah sometimes it can be confusing but the trains are coming frequently and you can always ask the friendly staff
@@marcogeurts9881 the NS services may be frequent, but the Thalys is once an hour, and I really wanted to ride on a TGV before I had to leave the Netherlands.
wait a minute, the thalys is cheaper than the ns loco hauled coaches, between amsterdam and rotterdam? Damn, that is sad, but how did you find the tickets, the thalys site does not list this as an option.
I’m not sure how exactly I was able to buy the ticket. It looks like you can book it on the NS international website, but idk if it works.
@Lonestar Trip Reports at 3:48 the Intercity service 1183 with 1 NS BR 186 Traxx loco at the front and 1 BR186 Traxx loco at the back and between 9 NS ICRmh stock(where the cab car serves as a normal car because they can only function as cabcar with the NS Class 1700 locomotieven )arrives at Rotterdam Centraal heading from Den Haag Centraal to Eindhoven Centraal and at 3:57 1 HLE28(NMBS Traxx locomotives) with 7 ICRmh carriages and 1 NS BR 186 as IC Brussel 9271 arrives at Rotterdam Centraal heading from Brussel Zuid/Midi to Amsterdam Centraal and at the time that you departed with Thalys PBA trainset 4539 as Thalys 9985 from Paris Gare du Nord heading to Amsterdam Centraal the NS ICMm trainset 4023 departed from track 14 as Intercity 587 from Rotterdam Centraal all the way to Groningen and at track 7a the NS SLT Sprinter 4 car set number 2415 combined with a 6 car ser number 2616 wich departed from Rotterdam Centraal at 21:54 as Sprinter 4078 to Uitgeest via Gouda and Amsterdam Centraal where the train arrived at 23:11 that was the time that you where already at Amsterdam Centraal
What is My Driver taxi service?
From what I understand, it's an onward travel option operated by Thalys, wherein passengers can book a ride to and from stations across Thalys's network. I'm not sure what the cost of actually using the service is, but it's free for Premium customers.
Too bad we don't have these in "Murica"
Maybe someday...
I found it very weird that your train wasn’t listed and I’m not sure most would have been able to remain as calm about it as you seemed to have been. I also didn’t notice any interaction with personnel at the station to ask for information.
It's a bit weird but NS does this more often and it also isn't as outrageous as you'd think. Basically no one except for the weirdest and richest train nerds will take the Thalys up north from Rotterdam. The IC-direct services are far more convenient, frequent and cheap (since it's also only 40 minutes and almost no faster than the regular trains, having a high speed train going there doesn't make much sense). Therefore the Rotterdam stop basically functions as a get off stop, since everyone will be coming from Paris or sometimes Brussels. So at times when NS finds it inconvenient to have people board the train that people usually don't have tickets for anyway, which takes longer to board and is often overloaded, they choose to not put it onto departure boards. I don't like this either, because they sometimes also do this on the more convenient Arnhem - Amsterdam route too and it is really confusing, while train travel is usually really straightforward here.
Not even 2mbit wifi speed… what a joke, would just use an unlimited and fast 5G mobile mobile data plan instead.
Yeah, it's not great, but not terrible. I agree that fast mobile plans would work significantly better, but for passengers without that kind of service, then it's nice to have the option there.