The Anonymous Widower

By Eurostar To The Netherlands

On Thursday I took the Eurostar to visit a friend in The Hague. I travelled in Standard Premier to get a comfortable seat with a table and a meal.

My route was to take the Eurostar to Brussels, where I would change to the Dutch Inter City train to Den Haag HS. The weather wasn’t good as this picture shows.

To Brussels In The Mist

Not that you get to see much on a trip to Brussels. But at least the gluten-free breakfast is worth having.

Eurostar’s Gluten-Free Breakfast

Note the Dove’s Farm biscuits, which seem to have disappeared from the shops.

Coming back, I got a rather nice gluten-free chicken for supper, with as much wine as I wanted.

It is a bit of a pain having to change trains in Brussels, but it isn’t too far to walk.  It would be nice though if I could have got a train right the way through to The Hague or Rotterdam from St. Pancras.

The main reason is that Eurostar trains can’t run on the Dutch train network, although they can run on ours. Most modern trains like the East and West Coast Main Lines in the UK, the French TGV and the Channel Tunnel are electrified to the same standard of 25kV A.C.  But the Dutch railway for some reason is electrified at 1.5kV D.C. Although the High Speed Line to Amsterdam is at the higher voltage.

This entry in Wikipedia talks about the future of high speed trains from London to the Netherlands. When Eurostar get their new trains, they may even call at The Hague.

November 17, 2012 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Brussels, Eurostar, The Netherlands, Trains