Interrail- Eurostar to LNER/EMT and CIV

[Segedunum]

Hi all,

I'm planning on travelling from Erlangen (near Nuremberg) to Newcastle or Sheffield on January 12th.

I essentially have all day as it's the last day of my Interrail (Global) pass so I'll be departing Erlangen at 05:02, catching the IC from Fuerth to Frankfurt, ICE to Cologne, then catching RE and stopping services via Aachen, Verviers, Liege and Namur to Lille-Flandres. I think the fastest arrival time at destination is 15:08 avoiding compulsory reservation services, and my planned Eurostar is at 18:35 so I have ample buffer time.

Arrival into St Pancras is 19:10.

Unfortunately LNER have had to make life difficult as there's engineering works meaning that the last train home to Newcastle is now 19:46 rather than 21:00, so tighter than I'd like- 36 minutes.

My backup is heading back to my uni house in Sheffield- the last train is at 21:00, and I'd be happy to do that if I had to.

My question is- do the usual CIV protections apply on Interrail passes in the event of delays? I'd be using the pass throughout, the domestic part being covered as part of the allowed journey in your own country to get to and from Mainland Europe.

And, is 36 minutes legally enough between Eurostar and LNER- and if I insisted- would they have to get me back to Newcastle? I assume that'd be via the 20:46 to Leeds and alternative transport from there or Doncaster.

Thanks in advance!

 

[duesselmartin]

Stimmt. Pancras to Kings Cross is just a few minutes walk. So IF Eurostar is on time it can be done.

 

[AlexNL]

According to www.brtimes.com, "LONDON EUROSTAR CIV" has a minimum connection time of 35 minutes. There is a 'Fixed link' to Kings Cross, listed as a walking time of 1 minute. This makes the minimum connection time 36 minutes. Your connection would be exactly 36 minutes which makes it a tight connection, but one which should be feasible.

Have you considered travelling from Paris instead? By taking the 17:13 train from Paris, you'll arrive in STP around 18:32. This gives you ample time to make the 19:46 to Newcastle.

 

[Segedunum]

According to www.brtimes.com, "LONDON EUROSTAR CIV" has a minimum connection time of 35 minutes. There is a 'Fixed link' to Kings Cross, listed as a walking time of 1 minute. This makes the minimum connection time 36 minutes. Your connection would be exactly 36 minutes which makes it a tight connection, but one which should be feasible.

Have you considered travelling from Paris instead? By taking the 17:13 train from Paris, you'll arrive in STP around 18:32. This gives you ample time to make the 19:46 to Newcastle.

I've looked at Paris indeed- although I don't wish to pay the hefty reservation fee on a Karlsruhe-Paris TGV/ICE, and there's a fairly large gap in Strasbourg-Paris TGVs in the afternoon. That said, Karlsruhe-Paris is supposed to be 13EUR yet OuiSNCF is quoting 45EUR. DB refuses to do it.

I think it'd look something like this:

0502 Erlangen-Fuerth 0511
0534 Fuerth-Frankfurt 0736
0750 Frankfurt-Mannheim 0827
0836 Mannheim-Karlsruhe 0858
0906 Karlsruhe-Woerth am Rhein 0915
0932 Woerth am Rhein-Lauterbourg 0948
0953 Lauterbourg-Strasbourg 1043
1219 Strasbourg-Paris Est 1405

However, if I cock up any of those connections, the next TGV is at 1447 arriving 1635, probably too late.

Incredibly lucky however that I'm exactly *on* the minimum connection time- so would technically be covered?

I do note the following on RTT-

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L11392/2019/01/12/advanced

Train 9153 is shown on here as having a 19:03 arrival rather than 19:10?

There's also a 16:56 from Brussels shown on RTT, but that's not advertised on the ES website. This is the train I had originally wanted to get (17:35 from Lille) as it provided a much better connection.

 

[Mag_seven]

If you get yourself down to the front of the Eurostar before it arrives at St Pancras you could possibly make a 5-6 min connection to a train off Kings Cross - indeed I know a couple of people who did that just recently.

 

[Segedunum]

If you get yourself down to the front of the Eurostar before it arrives at St Pancras you could possibly make a 5-6 min connection to a train off Kings Cross - indeed I know a couple of people who did that just recently.

So we've established the connection is legal and feasible (even with a little bit of a delay)- I suppose the question would be if I insisted on getting back to Newcastle and the connection was missed due to Eurostar- what the usual course of action would be?

I suppose if I was to go via Sheffield instead I could perhaps get my ticket endorsed to catch the 09:21 Sheffield to Newcastle the next morning (which is exactly what NRE suggests as the next available route after the 19:46 leaves)

 

[AlexNL]

It's important to note that at the time of writing, NRE can't confirm whether the 19.46 Kings Cross to Newcastle will in fact run on January 12th 2019. This is due to engineering work in the Peterborough area.

Final timetables should be available on December 1st.

 

[Segedunum]

It's important to note that at the time of writing, NRE can't confirm whether the 19.46 Kings Cross to Newcastle will in fact run on January 12th 2019. This is due to engineering work in the Peterborough area.

Final timetables should be available on December 1st.

Interesting- RTT has the (supposed) engineering works timetable up and ready but if that's the case (LNER aren't selling tickets either) I might hold off a little. I can't see the £30 reservation selling out for the Eurostar by then.

 

[Mag_seven]

I suppose the question would be if I insisted on getting back to Newcastle and the connection was missed due to Eurostar- what the usual course of action would be?

With CIV you will be put on the next train to Newcastle if your E* arrives late and you miss the booked Newcastle connection - if that next Newcastle train is the following day it's unclear if E* would pay for overnight accommodation?

 

[johnnychips]

E* refunded a hotel bill without question when their late service made us miss the last train from KX to Donny. We had to arrange the hotel ourselves and pay for it though. If a E* train is late and you could miss a connection, always get your ticket stamped by the train manager to prove it so you will be OK on a train the next day. If you can’t see him/her on the train, go to the buffet and they will get them.

Edit: if it’s an Interail ticket, not sure where they could stamp it!

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

OK, when it comes to IR strictly speaking it has its own 'delay repay' system meaning that any kind of refund is triggered only if you experience three or more delays of an hour each during the days you use it. One would hope that ES/LNER would be sensible in the circumstances you describe, but surely you will be able to catch ICE214 from Frankfurt Flughafen to Brussels and be in plenty of time to get the 1257 ES? The ICE is free to IR holders and has not compulsory reservation.

 

[DaiGog]

I've done it in 6 minutes from arriving at STP to boarding a train at KGX before now. Popped out of the tunnel at 1102, arrived STP at 1134, then by 1140 I was seated on board the 1148 to Hull! The only potential hiccup is if you are selected for a random baggage check, although provided you have nothing to hide, this should only take a couple of minutes.

 

[Bungle965]

E* refunded a hotel bill without question when their late service made us miss the last train from KX to Donny. We had to arrange the hotel ourselves and pay for it though. If a E* train is late and you could miss a connection, always get your ticket stamped by the train manager to prove it so you will be OK on a train the next day. If you can’t see him/her on the train, go to the buffet and they will get them.

Edit: if it’s an Interail ticket, not sure where they could stamp it!

I'm sure that Eurostar have a system themselves where if there is known disruption and you miss onward connections you can use a web page, put in your booking reference and it gives you the ability to book either alternative transport there and then. I have no idea how well that works in practice, I myself only know about this as it comes in quite useful for free WiFi while waiting in the departure lounge at London.
Sam

 

[eastwestdivide]

Last summer I was due in to St P at 1605; arrival was 2 mins early, and by 1615 I was sitting on board the 1630 Kings Cross-Edinburgh.