Köln Archives - Jon Worth

Will there be a direct train from [insert city] to London through the Channel Tunnel? Probably not

Basel, Switzerland. The latest city for which a direct train to London has been proposed. It is unlikely to get it, as are Geneva, Köln (CDU-Green NRW coalition agreement Page 132), Frankfurt and Bordeaux. And Marseille and Lyon are unlikely to get their direct trains to London back. There are[Read More…]

13.03.2023 7 comments

Analysis

The cheapest Deutsche Bahn Sparpreis across central Germany… starts in Czech Republic

I’ve discovered a few tricks to book extra cheap rail tickets in the past – I’ve explained the Eurostar Aachen trick, and how to split tickets in Germany, but now – thanks to a discussion on Twitter with @seatsixtyone and others, there is a new trick – involving Czech Republic[Read More…]

27.02.2017 0 comments

A rail postcard from Köln

Dear Violeta, It’s only a week or so since I wrote the last postcard to you. That one didn’t receive a response – perhaps you were too busy talking to the rail industry, rather than thinking of passengers’ needs? Anyway, today at Köln Hbf things went spectacularly wrong as happens[Read More…]

20.10.2015 0 comments

Analysis

The World’s 11 Coolest Train Stations – JW version

Huffington Post has a piece listing The World’s 11 Coolest Train Stations. Problem is I’m rather unconvinced by their choice, as is @christianwolmar. So here’s my own choice of 11 stations – and I have been to all of these. Perhaps these are not as cool as HuffPost’s, but they are[Read More…]

22.02.2012 0 comments

Analysis

Köln-London €66.50, or Bruxelles-London £121, booking today on exactly the same trains – odd, no?

Above are screenshots taken within the last twenty minutes (i.e. between 0900 and 1000 on 18th November). The first is for prices for a ticket between Bruxelles Midi and London St Pancras, second class, non-flexible, for the morning of Saturday 4th December. The second is from the ticket I booked[Read More…]

18.11.2010 6 comments

Analysis

The hypocrisy of Europe’s railways: some observations after a journey from Brussels to Germany

In the January edition of ‘Mobil’, the magazine of Deutsche Bahn there’s a picture of Guillaume Pépy (head of SNCF), Rüdiger Grübe (chair of the board of Deutsche Bahn) and Yoshio Ishida (president of UIC) beaming at Gare du Midi, Bruxelles, in front of the Climate Express, a special day[Read More…]

20.01.2010 0 comments