Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi All,

Just booked a Train journey from Cologne to Dresden online ticketing First Class for 2 people for 104 Euros total.

Tried to book a train ticket to Heathrow Airport on 14/04/09 no advance tickets yet ( What day will they be released) cant find the link/subject. I know that they will not be cheap looks like its Mega Bus again.

Why cant this Country have a Train Service like Germany?

Basset

It clearly states on the FGW website that bookings are open till 8th April.

Assuming that 1 euro roughly equals ^1, that's about ^50 each for a first class advance fare over around 300 miles.

Taking the nearest FGW example I can find (PNZ - PAD, 305 miles), just had a quick look on NRES and on Saturday 7 Feb there are first class advance tickets going for ^37.50.

I wouldn't like to say how much quicker the DB service is, but it's a bit of a myth that our trains are always ludicrously expensive compared to Europe.

I've had a similar problem.  Try booking to Paddington, then buying separate tickets to Heathrow (ideally using Heathrow Connect).

It worked for me.


(A later PS, I should have added - when bookings open.)

That won't help unless advance purchase tickets have been released for your intended date of travel. Keep an eye ont he front page of FGW's website where the latest date you can book up to is currently shown. Right now it's 08 Apr so you can expect tickets for 14 Apr to be released relatively soon.

Thanks DM, I can now notice when Advance Tickets are onsale, and IB perhaps you right not the best example.

What I have noticed and was under the wrong idea that advance tickets were available 12 weeks in advance. This is then not correct.

Just had's to the confusion, Eurostar advance tickets are onsale today for travel on 21st May and the German tickets are roughly 23rd April. So today I could book advance travel from London to Berlin etc but not from Cardiff.

Out of interest which way are you routed?

via Frankfurt Leipzig or Hannover Magdeburg Leipzig?

In leaping to the defense of "UK rail" you have all missed the point which is that despite what the fares actaully are - UK the booking systems and horizons etc are arranged such that Basset's initial impression was "DB good and cheap - UK expensive and difficult".

9 out of 10 members of the public in Basset's position would not have expolored the issue further and some of them would have chosen Mega-bus or the car insted.

Hi Eightf48544, Going via Berlin got a 40 minute wait going to try and pick up some chocs, from Fassbender & Rausch near the Gendermenmarkt best dark chocs on this planet think I can trust the trains to be on time.

Basset

If you're changing at Hauptbahnhof and you haven't been there before then take a look around the station itself - it's something else!

Indeed! See http://www.hbf-berlin.de/site/berlin__hauptbahnhof/en/start.html for example!  ;)

You've got good value if you are going via Berlin. A quick check on DB web site shows 103 or 127 Euro for standard class walk on fares fro Monday. The DB website if you are not familiar is.

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?newrequest=yes&protocol=http:& (http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en?newrequest=yes&protocol=http:&)

You'll enjoy the ICE2 from Cologne via Hannover then you should find a you can get a hot meal in the resturant car on the EC to Dresden as the journey is a bit boring crossing the North German plain.

Berlin Hbf is an incredible structure but make sure you work out which lift to use to get to the low level platforms (tief). Because of the arrangement of mezzanine floors with all the facilities  the direct lifts to the platforms are spread in a line serving only the platforms marked. You should come in on 12 on HL and depart from 2 LL from website. 1 and 2 low level are on the West side so you need the lift at the back of the train from Cologne.
You arrive travelling East. LL run North South at right angles to the HL.

One word of warning DB are having terrible trouble with ICE axles and using lots of loco hauled as substitutes so you might need to check your connections.

Because we won the World Wars and didn't need to rebuild our network?

I know you are referring to booking systems, but that's my answer when i'm asked that question  ;)

Hi, Yes been to Berlin HBF before it is a great station, Wife even managed to buy shoes in one of the many shops.

Do you think the Heathrow Hub if built could be anything like this station?

Was also impressed with Milan Central Station when I travelled from it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_Central_station