RAIL fares expert Barry Doe looks at the cost of a rail journey across Europe compared with flying.
IN 1962 I gained an O-Level in French, necessary for me to enter university. I could not speak it and had never been to France.
I am one of those people who have always believed that to visit a place and enjoy the culture, you need a working knowledge of the language. It is not good enough to say: “They’ll all speak English, so it doesn’t matter.”
Always being interested in travel, once I could do so independently, I naturally turned to railways - but only in Britain. Now, more than a million miles of UK rail travel later, I confess I regret not having taken the plunge, learned a language and gone abroad.
Freedom of Movement has been the greatest opportunity any nation could wish for. How can it be that so many English people voted Brexit, content to deny the privilege for future generations to study, work and live in any country they wished?
Had I gone abroad when younger, I would probably have ended up living there as I became disenchanted with English parochialism - in which case, I would have never written The Fare Dealer! Yes, I’ve become steeped in British timetables and fares, but know nothing whatsoever about overseas systems.
Close Hungarian friends of mine in Bournemouth decided they would go home as usual to see their family for August, COVID19-travel-permitting. But they were fed up with flying (the journey to Luton, the bland airport facilities and long check-in times), so asked if I could advise them about going by train instead.
I said I couldn’t, but that I knew a man who could, and asked the excellent Mark Smith of ‘Man-in-Seat-61’ fame for some tips. Shame on me, I have visited every station in Britain, but didn’t have a clue about the axes to take to get to Hungary. Armed with Mark’s information, I passed them details of websites and they planned an itinerary.
They wanted to know about food, so I said I’d find out as I guessed the Eurostar website couldn’t be trusted.
I was right - it said food would be available from the Café Métropole towards the middle of all trains, but I had to dig really deep to find an extra statement: “New hygiene measures mean we’re unable to serve food and drink on board.”
It transpired that all Deutsche Bahn (DB) services had not just snacks and drinks but full meals available, so why not Eurostar?
My friends also wanted the cost to be as low as possible and hence avoid overnight stops. It was impossible to reach Budapest in one day, so they opted for St Pancras to Vienna, from where they could be collected by a family member.
To my surprise, by booking early they found that the single fare was under £200 for two adults and two children - cheaper than flying in August. It would, however, be a long day, kicking off at around 0430 with a lift from Bournemouth to Hatton Cross Tube station, so they could reach St Pancras by 0800 for the 0855 to Brussels.
Arrival at Brussels was 1205 (local time) for the 1225 to Frankfurt (1531), then the 1621 to Vienna (2324). They would have been in Hungary at around 0130, 21 hours after leaving Bournemouth.
Unfortunately, the 1225 to Frankfurt failed at Brussels and they were told they’d have to await the next service at 1425, meaning they would miss their connection to Vienna. However, they told me they could not have
wished for a better service from DB, who reassured them at Brussels that they would be looked after on arrival in Frankfurt.
They were - DB booked them an excellent room in an adjacent hotel and told them to resume their journey on the 0621 to Vienna the next morning. As it happens this was a blessing in disguise, as it gave them all a rest in the evening and a good night’s sleep - and, of course, courtesy of DB.
Would that happen anywhere in Britain? Or would you be told to find somewhere to stay and put in a claim?
As for my friends’ overall opinion of this venture, compared with flying? It was more relaxing (although as planned, it would probably have been too long a day), and it was cheap and very enjoyable.
Eurostar was exciting for a first-time use, but they found the train “very basic”, whereas the DB trains were more luxurious, as well as offering food and drink.
Out of interest, I used the excellent European Rail Timetable to calculate the distance to Vienna. It’s 945 miles - very close to PenzanceWick via Cheltenham, the longest possible journey in Britain.
The fares database shows that for the latter, the cheapest possible Advance singles for two adults and two children is just under £300 - £100 dearer than the price they paid to Vienna. This is academic, too, for trying journeyplanners, the cheapest I could get on any date was £700!
That’s no doubt because a lot of operators are currently issuing very few Advance fares, and those that exist are at very high prices. Most still don’t want you to travel – again, all very different from travel on DB.