Trivia: UK stations served by international services?

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

The final journey in this series starting tonight in Ashford Kent. During the program Ashford was said to be one of the five stations in the country offering both domestic and international railway services. My question is which five stations offer both domestic and international service services something Chris Ebbsfleet at Ashford all do, Plus the uninitiated may consider Stratford International as well making a fourth. Which is the fifth however?

 

[Elecman]

St Pancras

 

[Hophead]

Belfast?

 

[hwl]

Belfast?

Belfast x2 stations plus Portadown and Newry


I think someone needs an arithmetic lesson as that is bit more than 5

 

[dvalts]

...and Lisburn

Lurgan is served by a single southbound Enterprise service on Sundays

 

[Gordon]

.

My betting is that the programme's researchers never thought about Ireland. Assuming they didn't the facts would be wrong because if they were thinking about HS1 surely it is only 3 - St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford

 

[steamybrian]

Victoria
The VSOE to Venice starts from there..

 

[alex17595]

Maybe they included the terminal at folkestone.

 

[edwin_m]

.

My betting is that the programme's researchers never thought about Ireland. Assuming they didn't the facts would be wrong because if they were thinking about HS1 surely it is only 3 - St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford

Maybe they searched for stations with "International" in the name and came up with Stratford and Birmingham as well?

 

[Gordon]

Maybe they searched for stations with "International" in the name and came up with Stratford and Birmingham as well?

Ah ha - I think you've got it!

that would give five stations


to include Victoria would be wrong of course as the VSOE is not an international train



.

 

[30907]

Victoria
The VSOE to Venice starts from there..

On which basis you can add Liverpool Street and sundry stations to Harwich International. The last pure rail-sea-rail international connection, as IIRC Holyhead now involves a minibus, though the Hoek end will become light rail.

And there's the Cambridge and Lowestoft connections too!

 

[stut]

Excellent. "Dullingham International" has a nice ring to it...

 

[AlexNL]

I'm pretty sure the numbers would go up further if you consider England, Wales and Scotland to be individual countries.

 

[eastwestdivide]

Depends on your definition of an international service. Is it
1. catching the same actual train to a different country* (Eurostar, Irish cross-border)
or
2. one service, but you get off at the port, and catch a ship (VSOE, Harwich etc)
?

*by country we mean whatever Richard Osman keeps saying on Pointless

 

[stut]

A sovereign state and a member of the UN in its own right?

Personally, I'd say it has to be a direct service to a different country. The Fleche d'Or would have counted (or the Copenhagen-Hamburg ICE would), but the boat trains via Essex don't. You have to change - remember, "Harwich for the Continent, Frinton for the incontinent..."

 

[eastwestdivide]

Could you also make an argument that the Folkestone-Calais shuttles are an international service? After all, you get on a train in one country and off it in another.
So under the stricter definition, that gives us 4 (St Pancras, Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Folkestone) on mainland GB, plus however many in N Ireland.

 

[30907]

...a direct service to a different country. The Fleche d'Or would have counted, but the boat trains via Essex don't. You have to change

As you did with the Golden Arrow - the Night Ferry was the only international train pre Eurostar by that definition.

 

[theageofthetra]

Is there still a ticket which allowed travel to Dover and included the bus from Dover Priory into the secure area of the ferry terminal?

 

[stut]

As you did with the Golden Arrow - the Night Ferry was the only international train pre Eurostar by that definition.

Ah, my mistake.

 

[steamybrian]

Could you also make an argument that the Folkestone-Calais shuttles are an international service? After all, you get on a train in one country and off it in another.
So under the stricter definition, that gives us 4 (St Pancras, Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Folkestone) on mainland GB, plus however many in N Ireland.

If you mean the car shuttle service from Cheriton (Folkestone) which is a separate station not served by domestic services.

 

[eastwestdivide]

If you mean the car shuttle service from Cheriton (Folkestone) which is a separate station not served by domestic services.

Fair point - the original poster did say served by both national and international.

 

[sheff1]

As you did with the Golden Arrow - the Night Ferry was the only international train pre Eurostar by that definition.

See earlier - Northern Ireland is part of the UK and has long had international services to the Republic.

My question is which five stations offer both domestic and international service services something Chris Ebbsfleet at Ashford all do,

Who is he ?

 

[Gordon]

.

In the context of what the programme was presumably trying to convey, changes of environment /mode would not be allowed.

As has been stated, there was just one genuine international train from Britain pre-channel tunnel. The Night Ferry was a true international service as you could stay on the same coach in the same compartment all the way from Victoria to Paris Nord or Brussels.

The Golden Arrow does not count, neither does the VSOE, nor services Liverpool Street - Holland. All these comprise a British train, a foot passenger journey on a ferry then a European train.

Trains similar to the Night Ferry in Europe included the TEE/InterCity trains to Copenhagen where 200km/h fitted IC coaches were shunted onto the ferry between Germany and Denmark.


.

 

[stut]

Trains similar to the Night Ferry in Europe included the TEE/InterCity trains to Copenhagen where 200km/h fitted IC coaches were shunted onto the ferry between Germany and Denmark.

This service continues as an ICE-TD, also loaded on to the Rødby-Puttgarden ferry, until the Fehrmarn belt fixed link is constructed.

The Trelleborg-Sassnitz connection has been in use over the summer for the last few years, too (Malmo-Berlin night trains). Don't know if that will continue, although Trelleborg saw a return to regular passenger service in December.