Problems on NS/Eurostar tonight

[Shimbleshanks]

My Missus was supposed to travel home from Rotterdam to London this evening on 19.28 Eurostar departure. She's been told that the service is cancelled and to find a hotel for tonight. Eurostar site was saying the train is delayed 2 hours but not cancelled. Eurostar staff at Rotterdam were adamant that it's cancelled. NS site saying there are problems with a 'stranded' train.

Anyone here have any idea what is going on?

 

[peteb]

My Missus was supposed to travel home from Rotterdam to London this evening on 19.28 Eurostar departure. She's been told that the service is cancelled and to find a hotel for tonight. Eurostar site was saying the train is delayed 2 hours but not cancelled. Eurostar staff at Rotterdam were adamant that it's cancelled. NS site saying there are problems with a 'stranded' train.

Anyone here have any idea what is going on?

Sorry to hear that, all seemed ok at Brussels at 5pm when I caught the Amsterdam to London service.

 

[Beebman]

I've found this on a local news site, it's in Dutch but I've run it through Google Translate:

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1833112/240-internationale-reizigers-geevacueerd-uit-eurostar-trein

240 international travelers evacuated from Eurostar train
A Eurostar train stranded on the high-speed line between Amsterdam and Rotterdam on Thursday evening around 7:10 PM. There are 240 passengers on the train who were on their way to London. Travelers will be evacuated from 9:30 PM. Due to the stranded train, no trains have been running on the high-speed line all evening. The NS expects the track to be free again around 10:30 PM.
The 240 passengers are collected by the NS and taken to Rotterdam. Because it is an international train and the passengers largely do not come from the Netherlands, the occupants are accommodated in hotels if necessary.
Towing the train is more complicated than usual because it is an international train. The NS hopes to reopen the track around 10:30 p.m., but is keeping a close eye on things.
The normal Intercity Direct timetable will then resume. Until then, travelers between Rotterdam and Amsterdam can take the normal Intercity via The Hague and Leiden.

Hopefully NS staff at Rotterdam can assist people there who need hotels.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I've found this on a local news site, it's in Dutch but I've run it through Google Translate:

https://www.rijnmond.nl/nieuws/1833112/240-internationale-reizigers-geevacueerd-uit-eurostar-trein



Hopefully NS staff at Rotterdam can assist people there who need hotels.

Mrs S was told to go away and find her own hotel. Fortunately I found her something in Booking.com which she is now in, but says it's like the Bates' Motel. She's less than impressed; no doubt it'll be back to BA or Easyjet for her next trip to the Netherlands.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 May 2024 ==

Mrs S was told to go away and find her own hotel. Fortunately I found her something in Booking.com which she is now in, but says it's like the Bates' Motel. She's less than impressed; no doubt it'll be back to BA or Easyjet for her next trip to the Netherlands.

Thanks for the piece - at least I know what's happening.

 

[DanielB]

For sure the GPS of train 9167 was broken, as GPS logs show it running from Almere to The Hague Central. Was already looking which train was the stranded train, but didn't consider the Eurostar as it appeared diverted according to the map.

Hopefully NS staff at Rotterdam can assist people there who need hotels.

In general Dutch stations have not that many staff and I've seen many cases where they just can't handle stranded passengers. Domestic passengers are often enough told to get a taxi themselves and then are angry when customer service tells them later that self-arranged taxis are not refunded for example.
You'd expect Rotterdam to have plenty of decent hotels however, but with an international event in nearby Dordrecht coming weekend, it might be hotels are more full than usual.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

For sure the GPS of train 9167 was broken, as GPS logs show it running from Almere to The Hague Central. Was already looking which train was the stranded train, but didn't consider the Eurostar as it appeared diverted according to the map.


In general Dutch stations have not that many staff and I've seen many cases where they just can't handle stranded passengers. Domestic passengers are often enough told to get a taxi themselves and then are angry when customer service tells them later that self-arranged taxis are not refunded for example.
You'd expect Rotterdam to have plenty of decent hotels however, but with an international event in nearby Dordrecht coming weekend, it might be hotels are more full than usual.

Yes, the discussions did seem to be getting quite heated this evening from what I could hear on the phone...

 

[rvdborgt]

In general Dutch stations have not that many staff and I've seen many cases where they just can't handle stranded passengers. Domestic passengers are often enough told to get a taxi themselves and then are angry when customer service tells them later that self-arranged taxis are not refunded for example.

NSI are supposed to have agreements with hotels that they can book, and are also supposed to have leaflets with a URL that can be handed out to stranded passengers so they can use to book themselves with the agreed hotels. Apparently this didn't work like that here. Or maybe that's because it's Eurostar and not NSI who decided that they didn't need to help their stranded passengers.
In any case, the hotel must be paid back and in addition, there's 50% compensation for the >2 hours delay, all from the place where the ticket was booked.

 

[peteb]

Unfortunate timing for the failure and rescue. I guess if it had been earlier in the day onward transport by "normal" train to Brussels thence a replacement Eurostar would have been provided. Last year my Brussels London Eurostar failed at Midi and they sent a replacement train from the UK with corresponding 2+ hour delay.

I guess the Eurostar services have an evening cut off point before High Speed Line is closed for maintenance? So a late service from Rotterdam to London would have been out of the question despite there having been time to send a replacement unit from the UK?

 

[DanielB]

I guess the Eurostar services have an evening cut off point before High Speed Line is closed for maintenance? So a late service from Rotterdam to London would have been out of the question despite there having been time to send a replacement unit from the UK?

I read the train was eventually evacuated around 21.30. An NS spokesperson told nu.nl that it wasn't clear what was wrong with the train: the driver had been able to restart it and drive a bit further several times before it broke down completely.
As, according to some Googling, the high speed line Lille - Calais closes at 22.00 hrs getting people there in time would be impossible. Even with an earlier evacuation passengers would have to get other trains to Brussels and clear security again.

Capacity may well have also been an issue as yesterday the high speed line was the only link from Rotterdam to North Brabant due to a broken overhead line at the classic route.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

My Missus returned to Rotterdam Centraal this morning to find massive queues. She was advised that there would be little chance of getting on a direct Eurostar so they advised her to take the departure to Paris and then a Paris-London Eurostar - but at her own expense and then claiming it back. I only hope this works...

NSI are supposed to have agreements with hotels that they can book, and are also supposed to have leaflets with a URL that can be handed out to stranded passengers so they can use to book themselves with the agreed hotels. Apparently this didn't work like that here. Or maybe that's because it's Eurostar and not NSI who decided that they didn't need to help their stranded passengers.
In any case, the hotel must be paid back and in addition, there's 50% compensation for the >2 hours delay, all from the place where the ticket was booked.

Apparently some people without the means to fork out for a hotel spent the night at Rotterdam Centraal.

 

[rvdborgt]

My Missus returned to Rotterdam Centraal this morning to find massive queues. She was advised that there would be little chance of getting on a direct Eurostar so they advised her to take the departure to Paris and then a Paris-London Eurostar - but at her own expense and then claiming it back. I only hope this works...

This must work, Eurostar are obliged to organise all of this free of charge. If Eurostar refuse to reimburse the extra expenses (assuming she booked there), then open a case with London TravelWatch.

Apparently some people without the means to fork out for a hotel spent the night at Rotterdam Centraal.

That's of course a breach of EU Regulation 2021/782. People should complain to Eurostar and (if needed) London TravelWatch.

 

[Bungle965]

That's of course a breach of EU Regulation 2021/782. People should complain to Eurostar and (if needed) London TravelWatch.

Is this within London TravelWatch jurisdiction?

 

[rvdborgt]

Is this within London TravelWatch jurisdiction?

Eurostar is in their jurisdiction. If this problem is not in their jurisdiction, they'll let you know.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

It might make more sense to start with NS International, however, as was presumably it up to them (as service provider to Eurostar in NL) to arrange provision for pax from the stranded train?

 

[rvdborgt]

It might make more sense to start with NS International, however, as was presumably it up to them (as service provider to Eurostar in NL) to arrange provision for pax from the stranded train?

NS is the carrier in the Netherlands, so they're responsible on the spot, although I assume there's also Eurostar staff on the ground, but NS and Eurostar will have agreed how they handle stranded passengers. Any complaints after the journey are however normally dealt with the place where you bought your ticket.

 

[island]

Eurostar is in their jurisdiction. If this problem is not in their jurisdiction, they'll let you know.

I don't think London TravelWatch is likely to care about EU legislation breaches.

More generally, it seems to me that train 9167 the 18:45 departure from Amsterdam C to London SP gets an inordinately high amount of disruption in terms of cancellations and skipping the Lille stop. Someone mentions upthread that there is a line closure at 22:00. The train is booked to depart Lille at 21:30. Perhaps this is related.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

I sent them my claim for the hotel expenses and the extra Rotterdam-Paris-London ticket that she had to buy. I also claimed a voucher under the delay compensation scheme for £169 which we have received and have already used.
But now Eurostar are claiming that they don't need to refund her for the extra train ticket because we have had compensation under the delay compensation scheme! Surely that can't be right?

 

[rvdborgt]

I sent them my claim for the hotel expenses and the extra Rotterdam-Paris-London ticket that she had to buy. I also claimed a voucher under the delay compensation scheme for £169 which we have received and have already used.
But now Eurostar are claiming that they don't need to refund her for the extra train ticket because we have had compensation under the delay compensation scheme! Surely that can't be right?

Nope, that's not right. They are required to let you travel without extra costs (so they MUST refund the extra ticket) and compensation for delay is on top of that.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jun 2024 ==

Did they refund the hotel costs though?

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Nope, that's not right. They are required to let you travel without extra costs (so they MUST refund the extra ticket) and compensation for delay is on top of that.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Jun 2024 ==

Did they refund the hotel costs though?

A further twist. Although Eurostar said they were only going to refund us €92. they have actually paid a sum of £172.95 into my bank account. This is rather more than what they said they would pay, but still is less than half our out-of-pocket expenses. No explanation of what costs it is intended to cover.
I have sent the whole thing to London TravelWatch...

 

[rvdborgt]

A further twist. Although Eurostar said they were only going to refund us €92. they have actually paid a sum of £172.95 into my bank account. This is rather more than what they said they would pay, but still is less than half our out-of-pocket expenses. No explanation of what costs it is intended to cover.
I have sent the whole thing to London TravelWatch...

Strange things. Do keep us informed!

 

[rvdborgt]

Any further developments in this case? Just curious how Eurostar handle their own mess.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Any further developments in this case? Just curious how Eurostar handle their own mess.

It all got very confused. It transpired that Eurostar had refunded some further money to my wife's bank account, which I wasn't aware of at the time, so I think she got most, but not all, of her out-of-pocket expenses back. I decided it wasn't worth pursuing them for a few tens of pounds.
London TravelWatch responded to my email asking for some more information, which seems to suggest that they would have taken the matter up if I'd asked.

 

[rvdborgt]

It all got very confused. It transpired that Eurostar had refunded some further money to my wife's bank account, which I wasn't aware of at the time, so I think she got most, but not all, of her out-of-pocket expenses back. I decided it wasn't worth pursuing them for a few tens of pounds.
London TravelWatch responded to my email asking for some more information, which seems to suggest that they would have taken the matter up if I'd asked.

Thanks. So the only question that remains is why they fobbed all passengers off the night of the event to find their own solutions.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Thanks. So the only question that remains is why they fobbed all passengers off the night of the event to find their own solutions.

From what I was told, there were only one or two Eurostar members of staff on duty at Rotterdam who said that they didn't have authority to arrange hotels, alternative travel etc. It could be lack of training - are they even full time Eurostar staff, or just seconded from NS?

 

[rvdborgt]

From what I was told, there were only one or two Eurostar members of staff on duty at Rotterdam who said that they didn't have authority to arrange hotels, alternative travel etc. It could be lack of training - are they even full time Eurostar staff, or just seconded from NS?

Could be just NS - NS (and not Eurostar) are the operator in the Netherlands, so they also have some responsibilities, although it's a matter of what NS and Eurostar have agreed on who does what in practice. In any case, for whatever reason, it looks like nobody was able to assist the stranded passengers, which remains strange since they had a few hours to organise this. And there should in fact always be someone who knows what needs to be done, if only to distribute leaflets with the relevant information.

 

[duesselmartin]

With the current cost and reliability of ES, O tend to take the overnight Stena these days