To Aachen and back- by train

Part One- the outward journey.

Grahame is not the only forum member to be sampling rail travel across the Channel in recent days. My wife and I spent a few days in Germany, based in Aachen, over the weekend, celebrating her birthday by visiting two cathedrals covered in a recent WEA course she has attended (Aachen and Trier) and the surrounding general area.
We’ve used Eurostar as our preferred way of getting to much of France and the Benelux countries for some years, so decided to add Germany to the list of counties visited by this means. Aachen is only just in Germany, both the Netherlands and Belgium being almost within walking distance of the city. I booked tickets through SNCB, the Belgian national railway company, travelling via Brussels each way. I hope this account might be of interest and assistance to forum members who might be contemplating visiting this part of the world.

As it happens, our outwards journey was the first with any problems after 10 clear on-time journeys on Eurostar. Having checked in, and arrived in the crowded departures area at St Pancras, the displays changed to show that our 13-00 departure was now expected to depart at 14-30. We were booked on an onwards DB^» ICE due to depart 20 minutes after our due arrival time. To their credit, Eurostar immediately announced that anyone with onward journeys from Lille or Brussels should attend their information desk to get help with alternative arrangements. In our case, we were given a handwritten note confirming that the Eurostar train was delayed by up to two hours franked with an official rubber stamp, and told to present it in Brussels and we would likely be issued a replacement ticket on a later train at no cost. We might not even need this – the certificate itself may work. They could not help with times, but recommended checking on-line, and it was easy to confirm that there was a DB ICE every two hours.

On the train, a member of crew went through the train asked who was affected by missing booked connections, and we were advised to go to the ticket and information at Brussels Midi. This we did, and a very helpful person with excellent English glanced at our certificate, and told us that we needed nothing more, and should just get on the next (18-25) ICE and show the certificate on any ticket inspection.

This was my first mainline German train trip, albeit mostly across Belgium, and we were treated to one of their mark 3 ICE high-speed trains. Very satisfactory, clean and comfortable it was too. The ticket inspector simply asked if we were one of the passengers affected by the Eurostar delay, and accepted our “yes” without actually inspecting either our ticket or certificate! Despite all the negative publicity about DB in recent times, it ran to time (as did GWR^▸ from Goring to Paddington on the way to London).

Tip for anyone thinking of travelling to Aachen from St Pancras – the Eurostar fare on the ex-Thalys service using old 1990s TGV^▸ -type trains is £81, on the DB ICE it is £31-36, a little less for us as we were “seniors”. Both take the same high-speed track, but the DB service takes all of between 3 and 6 minutes longer, and both run about once every two hours.

Aachen station looks like a post-war reconstruction, a pleasant enough building, and sits on an attractive square south of the old city centre. Unfortunately, it is also a magnet for all the alcoholics and down-and-outs of the city, and this is reflected also in a conspicuous police and security presence. The city itself has an attractive centre around the cathedral, old townhall and an interesting museum at the Charlemagne Centre, this being Charlemagne city. It gives the history of the city from pre-Roman times to the post-war period. The city, as a transport hub and an early target in the “liberation” of Germany in 1944 was very heavily bombed. Much of the rest of the city is typical post-war reconstruction ex-West Germany, albeit a little shabbier than many other similar cities. It is not so good as a base if you want to see Trier as well and use public transport. We “cheated” and hired a car, which also gave us an opportunity to see some of the attractive hilly country of the Ardennes, Haute Fagnes and Eifel National Parks and Moselle valley around the area where Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg meet. Aachen does however have good rail and bus links with Cologne, Maastricht, Eupen and Liege if you fancy an international sightseeing break.

Next time-the way home....