The biggest issue at the moment with the HSL and Eurocity Direct is the 80-kilometre speed restriction at Rijpwetering due to a construction error there. Which greatly increases travel time between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. And is not likely to be quickly resolved.
Fortunately that speed restriction has recently been somewhat 'eased' and stands now at 120 km/h. The construction errors are unlikely to be dealt with in the next few years. The current 2025 timetable is still based on the ICR-trainsets despite the ICNG's being able to go a bit faster. As soon as the service can be fully covered with ICNG's, the timetable will be favourably amended (slightly).
Great video! The reason the Dutch don’t build in the high speed supplement into the fare domestically, is that other Intercity trains from Rotterdam to Amsterdam run on regular lines, so they need to give passengers the option to travel in these. Hence you pay the supplement separately.
This train is a game changer for me as I live near Amsterdam Zuid and need to go to Antwerp often. I save almost 1 hour each way! Finally some competition on this route 😎 One small complaint, I feel like the ICNG trains don’t have enough seats, for “long haul” service like this the older IC Direct coaches seating layout is actually better imo. I don’t need that many variety of seat options, just give me regular rows and maximise the number of seats.
The reason it doesn't call at Amsterdam CS is due to the overhaul happening at Centraal. When that's done, it should be calling there again instead of Amsterdam Zuid. Thought it's going to be it's terminus again too instead of Lelystad but I'm not 100% sure on that.
The 'escape' to Lelystad or Almere is primarily due to Amsterdam Zuid having no depot or spare platform to turn the trains. A new platform will be built though.
Eurostar Antwerp-Rotterdam is like 30/32min but it always delayed and the eurocity direct doing it in like 44min but goes slow for a few minutes so it can be closer infact if u wanna go to Paris cheap u maybe can do this with thé eurocity direct and then take the Eurostar at Brussels
@deshawn8510 The current schedule of the ECD is based on a 160 km/h top speed. This means that with a faster acceleration and top speed, we may see a 37-minute travel time.
14:50 the current timetable is still 160kph due to many traxx's still runing on the route. thanks to the speed restrictions on the HSL the ICNG can do 200KPH to save delay time. the timetable will be fixed next year as the ICR+Traxx is set to fully retire on both domestic as well as international services in september.
@memunist5765 No, they don't. The timetable will and is scheduled with a speed of 160 km/h. A friend is a driver on the EuroCity Direct and was able to arrive 10 minutes earlier than scheduled with the ICNG-B.
14:10 The supplement exists and remains optional for domestic tickets because plenty of people travel between Rotterdam and Amsterdam using the regular Intercity that goes via Delft, The Hague, and Leiden. Would be really annoying if you were forced to pay extra for the High-speed service when you don't intent to take that route.
I don\t know if it makes sense, but they should instead have a supplement for full=distance tickets on the Amsterdam - Leiden - Delft - Fotterdam IC so that passengers travelling end-to-end take the ECD/ICD instead.
The seats look like a mix of the Thalys and most recent TGVs, that’s funny (and normal I guess since that’s Alstom) Also yup! I’ve seen the Antwerpen-Centraal station last August! It looks sooooo good! I was there during Pride so there was a rainbow effect, it was amazing!
The interesting thing about NS is that they “never” take the default interior of the trains builder but test and co-design the seating with passengers. So Dutch versions can have quite different interiors and seats provided by different manufacturers.
Yes, have visited Antwerpen Centraal many times and it is indeed in my top 3 of European train stations (together with St. Pancras and Milano Centrale). 🔟 points from me 😄
Honestly one thing that bugs me is the fact that the modern dutch trains don't actually have first class, it's just a more exspensive seat with a different color padding. There is literaly nothing different apart from seat color, modern dutch train tickets are heavily overpriced for what is offered by it's own but then there is the even more exspensive first class wich is basicly meaningless. And what is worse is the fact the ns/prorail concern is complaining about making not enough money by selling tickets, so what is the solution they chose: stripping down everything that made riding the train worth it and raising the pricing. Of wich the dutch people responded with: not going with the train... If i'm honest the coffeecart and first class coupé's made riding the train simply not fun and heavily overpriced and just not worth it if you don't get trainrides free for students. And the government actually wants people to ride trains but they do nothing to require the ns to change up... And fun fact the ns wanted to remove toilets alltogether from trains but then people instandly stopped going with the train for a day and it got changed back...
If I remember they only wanted to get rid of the Toilets on the 'sprinter' services, but boy was that an unpopular move, it got bad enough that the House of Representatives got involved and decided that from 2015 onward all new trains ordered for use on the main network had to have toilets, and by 2025 any train that didn't have any would had to have one installed. The arguments from NS that people could just get out of the train and use the facilities there was just insane.
The government is insane as well they legit have a law that the NS is not allowed to subsidize the train tickets thru the sales of their in station stores
No I don't think that will happen anytime soon :( The lowest fares between Ams-Bru are fairly low already, serving more as filler seats when needed, whilst the higher fares basically discourage the use of only the Ams-Bru link on most of the trains (unless your company pays for it and you don't care). Interesting price wise is the Ouigo Classique service between Paris-Bru in combination with this ECD, especially last minute. But Eurostar is not worried about that competition either (more an attack on Flixbus etc).
Great looking train with some well thought out ideas. If it is a hugh speed route the train ought to be capable of the maximum line speed, but thats a minor complaint.
Minor detail, but with the new timetable, the supplement between Rotterdam and Schiphol has been slightly increased. The off-peak supplement is now €1.80, and the peak supplement is now €3.00 Still included in international tickets though! :)
If you buy a ticket online for the specific train, the supplement would be included, but the Netherlands has contactless credit card acceptance across the whole of their public transport network, so impossible to include the supplement if someone is just tapping in and out with their Visa card.
I use these trains multiple times a week and don't think they are that great. I would describe the ride experience as noisy and rough, almost like local commuter trains. And the folding tables on the airline style seats are too far away to work on a laptop, I usually don't use them but put my laptop on my lap.
This is nice, been following online when they’ll implement the new ICNG on this route. Can’t wait to take a Eurocity Direct train from Schipol to Antwerpen-Centraal using these trains. It was either Eurostar or Eurocity, depending on the prices both seem good depending on the time of departure.
There's a bit of controversy around this new train in Belgium. This train took over one of the time slots on he Brussels to Antwerp section. That alone isn't a problem, but this train requires a different international ticket. It's slower predecessor allowed trips between Brussels and Antwerp with a domestic (NMBS/SNCB) ticket and the long term train commuter tickets. So for domestic travel in Belgium, this train might aswell not exist, as it can't be used for people on a longer domestic journey making transfers, people commuting to and from work, ... Considering the Brussels to Antwerp section is the busiest trainroute in Belgium, it's not difficult to understand why not every Belgian is a fan of this EuroCity Direct train between Brussels and Amsterdam. Especially during commuting hours, this will result in overcrowding on the remaining trains on the Brussels to Antwerp route.
Time for the Belgian rail operator to work on this line, right? In the Netherlands it’s possible to let trains run on the same tracks, every 10 minutes. And sometimes even more. I’m sure that can be possible in Belgium too.
@@MLWitteman there are already 6 tracks on this route between Brussels and Mechelen, and 4 between Mechelen and Antwerp. Two of those tracks are for slow trains, freight or locals. On the fast tracks there are already 8 trains per hour.
Regional? 4 major cities more then 200km apart? Amtrak would cover a distance like this in 4 hours (at least) and the MBTA runs a line to Winchester in like 2 hours and that’s only 60 miles or so
There’s a lot to say about this connection. The travel time is much better now though and more competitive connections for the Eurostar are very much appropriated. Oh my, everything to avoid the overpriced and always fully booked Eurostar.
Amsterdam Zuid is currently being converted into an international train terminal. In the future, all international trains will stop here, such as the Eurostar London/Paris, ICE Frankfurt, IC Berlin, sleeper trains to Munich and Prague, and in the future perhaps the train to Copenhagen. The municipality of Amsterdam also has plans to extend the metro line from Amsterdam Zuid to Schiphol airport.
Caused a total disaster between Antwerp and Brussels, resulting in a deletion of 1/5 trains an hour per direction. 20% capacity reduction between the first and second largest cities...truly pain.
Af en toe moet natuurlijk de keuze gemaakt worden tussen nationaal en internationaal vervoer aangezien er geen extra rijpad voorzien kon worden. En nu is er 1 trein minder tussen Brussel en Antwerpen dat is ook niet het einde van de wereld hé (: Je kan nu wel sneller in Amsterdam geraken
EuroCity denk ik wel (ben niet zeker). Maar de EuroCityDirect, die naar Amsterdam gaat, mag je niet gebruiken voor binnenlandse trajecten. Deze is vergelijkbaar met een Eurostar op dit vlak (:
How many people from Brussels or Antwerp need to travel to Amsterdam-Zuid? For the financial centre there only? Surely not for the provincial town of Almere, where most people do not work, but sleep.
You can always change onto the metro at Zuid or change trains at Schiphol Airport if you need to be at Central, those trains have been downgraded in comfort but increased in frequency, now 8 trains per hour for most of the day :)
I guess a whole lot more than you think. There are also a bunch of big hotels near Amsterdam Zuid so even for tourists it’s not a bad place to be. Plus you have the EMA (European medical agency) large banks and lawyer firms next to the station
Obviously the Eurocity that connects Amsterdam, Antwerpen and Brussels must call at the booming station of Almere Buiten! Genius. Doesn't affect anyone, but still very pointless to call there, haha.
Almere buiten is een tijdelijke stop. Er moet nu nog gerekend worden met traxx tijden, daardoor is de trein te laat in almere en gaat de sprinter voor. Op almere buiten word gebufferd zodat de sprinter genoeg voorsprong krijgt en je dus niet constant voor rood staat. Als alle traxx weg is kan er gerekend worden met de icng waardoor deze kan vertrekken voor de sprinter.
@racingweirdo I believe the reason it calls at almere buiten and duivendrecht is because the eurocity direct operates a 30 minute frequency between lelystad and rotterdam together with the series 2400. The 2400 used to operate lelystad-dordrecht via the hague but since the new schedule it opperates via the hsl. And the old 2400 called at duivendrecht and almere buiten and that's why the service even now still calls there. Also almere buiten is considered too busy not to have an intercity stop so in the future a different intercity service will still call there
@@apotato5563 Duivendrecht is easily the better station between it and Zuid. Everyone goes to Zuid, hardly anyone to Duivendrecht, so you're almost always guaranteed a good spot in the train. But yeah, it's kinda a useless stop I guess for an ICD/ECD. Though I'm glad it exists. Also the Eurocity Direct doesn’t call at Duivendrecht does it? Because that is why I avoided them so far at least.
Well since 2025 these boys replace the "normal" Intercity service I use to commute. They are very nice and comfy indeed...but the trains they replace were double deckers, so that's quite a drop in capacity which is really felt at peak hour. I'm lucky enough that I can be a bit flexible with my hours, but I hope other commuters are not too bothered.
If you need a train in excess of 200 km/h, you will have: a high procurement cost (30-40% higher for 250 km/h train), higher maintenance costs, higher operating costs and not commonality with the rest of the NS fleet. They can, for example, now use the ICNG-B on the domestic services that use the HSL-Zuid. The acceleration of the train more than makes up for its lower top speed, which makes a higher top speed not needed.
@@sidesplitter9497 What made it so slow is the temporary speed restrictions on the northern section of HSL-Zuid and the Antwerp-Brussels railway. The line from Antwerp to Rotterdam is for 15% made of 140 km/h lines and 85% 300 km/h lines. There isn't a whole lot to do about it. The Eurostars as is are a whole lot worse in acceleration than these ICNG's.
It's a pity you couldn't check Antwerp central station. It's named the most beautiful train station in the world by many different articles, and with good reason. Also, one thing I have noticed after watching different train travel videos is that the first class is never worthy. I live in Antwerp (hence what I said about the station) and I can confirm that. The first class offers nothing extra (at least in the IC trains for short distances) and the seats are not that extra comfortable. The only positive thing I can say is that as most of people are aware of this, barely anyone buys those seats, so you will always find a seat in a quiet zone, but this is more a positive consequence,not a feature.
Why is the university direct only nine minutes slower than the Eurostar to Brussels considering the Eurostar maximum speed is an extra 100 km/h? Strange.
Rotterdam antwerpen is 95km 300kph=12s/km 200kph=18s/km 95km is about 100km for ease 100×12=1200/60=20min 100x18=1800/60=30min 30-20= 10 minutes longer And that's basically the only strecht where the eurostar goes faster than the eurocitydirect between rotterdam and brussels. Also having travelled on both the eurostar is used by tourists who all have bags with them which increases boarding times and the eurostar also has a lower door to seat ratio increasing boarding times more for the eurostar
Can be reached but not necessarily faster. Also centraal station still is the main hub for further transportation; all metro lines and most tram- and bus lines terminate here.
were you in belgium on december 14th? then it was a special goodbye for the last MS66, now they'll be in train world. also it's weird, some old IC trains gets used for the ICdirect which is funny because the new ICNG were supposed to replace them🤣now they need extra trains
The storage for large baggage seems rather limited, just as is the case on the Eurostar/TGV's that ride on this route. If you get in on a later station than the start station (e.g. you get in in Rotterdam, and not Amsterdam) very often all racks will be completely full. And as there is hardly any room between the seats, you are forced to park it in the aisle, much to the dismay of other travellers...
i believe its diverted to amsterdam zuid bcs of construction work at amsterdam centraal & bcs amsterdam centraal is smaller bcs of that so they dont really have space for them. also they dont include the supplement in domestic trains is because you also can travel via normal rails from rotterdam to schiphol airport. also because of the way the ov chipkaart works. you check in at station A & check out at station B. but you can also travel via station C to B & costs the same. so it would be to complicated. catering isnt gonna happen as NS stopped it in february 2021 & its not coming back
Ive take both the eurocity and eurocity dirrect and 2nd class is almost always full or over capacity. At this rate id rather they send double deckers like a f-ed up multiple signaling VIRMs in even if they run at only 140
4 ชั่วโมงที่ผ่านมา
Also don't the VIRMs have place for a 25KV transformator?
You can now. This is a test train. You can board this train from Lelystad take it all the way to Rotterdam just on your OV kaart. For Belgium you need a separate ticket though
Probably the biggest reason they only go 200 is that this train makes sense for domestic purposes like this. A 300km/h train that runs for 70% on tracks limited to 140 make it rather useless and a waste of money. This is the highest speed they can get for the money which is actually worth it, hopefully another rail operator is interested in running proper high speed trains though
Even when there wasn't a speed restriction. The Thalys would only beat the 160kmh ICD by 4-5 minutes between Rotterdam and Schiphol airport on the high speed line. The increased upfront and running costs of a train going 250-300kmh Vs 200 just isn't worth it
-The definition of 'high speed' rail most countries in Europe use for now is 200 km/h /125 mph or faster. So it's perfectly right to call these trains here high speed trains.-
@@tijsbeek8590 Yes, you're right, my bad. And since this line is newly constructed, trains actually need to go at least 250 km/h here to wear the label 'high speed'. Nevertheless I like the colorful interiors NS have decided for. Nice trains.
Just took one of these to Rotterdam and was Very Unimpressed! I found them smelly and stuffy with a musty smell. Already one of the automatic doors wouldn't work or open. It was a very noisy running train as well and the carriages were no wehre near as comfortable as the older trains. 2/10 for me.
No. Amsterdam Zuid is currently being converted into an international train terminal. In the future, all international trains such as the Eurostar, ICE, IC Berlin, sleeper trains will stop here.
It continues to amaze me that the Belgium and Dutch authorities still do not address the scourge of criminal defacement of their trains and rail infrastructure. Maybe these governments needs less liberal handslapping of this criminal element and real enforcement with jail time and heavy fines. Let's be clear, grafitti is not art, but representative of social anarchy which affects the functioning of civil society, as well as having a significant price on the maintenance of th rail networks and, lastly, having an unwelcoming atmosphere for tourists who are a major revenue driver for these two nations.
"The entire journey is in the European Schengenzone, where borders just melt away. Unless you go to Germany that is." Well.. since December the Netherlands has started with the same semi-legal border controls that Germany is doing. So sadly no, you might have to deal with passport checks if your train gets randomly selected.
The biggest issue at the moment with the HSL and Eurocity Direct is the 80-kilometre speed restriction at Rijpwetering due to a construction error there. Which greatly increases travel time between Amsterdam and Rotterdam. And is not likely to be quickly resolved.
Fortunately that speed restriction has recently been somewhat 'eased' and stands now at 120 km/h. The construction errors are unlikely to be dealt with in the next few years. The current 2025 timetable is still based on the ICR-trainsets despite the ICNG's being able to go a bit faster. As soon as the service can be fully covered with ICNG's, the timetable will be favourably amended (slightly).
The train doesn’t run at full speed the hole time unlike the Eurostar between Antwerp and Rotterdam it goes slow for like 7/8min
Great video! The reason the Dutch don’t build in the high speed supplement into the fare domestically, is that other Intercity trains from Rotterdam to Amsterdam run on regular lines, so they need to give passengers the option to travel in these. Hence you pay the supplement separately.
& also bcs of ov chipkaart
This train is a game changer for me as I live near Amsterdam Zuid and need to go to Antwerp often. I save almost 1 hour each way! Finally some competition on this route 😎
One small complaint, I feel like the ICNG trains don’t have enough seats, for “long haul” service like this the older IC Direct coaches seating layout is actually better imo. I don’t need that many variety of seat options, just give me regular rows and maximise the number of seats.
The train tickets for the normal train are way more cheaper then they used to be
The reason it doesn't call at Amsterdam CS is due to the overhaul happening at Centraal. When that's done, it should be calling there again instead of Amsterdam Zuid. Thought it's going to be it's terminus again too instead of Lelystad but I'm not 100% sure on that.
No it is going to Lelystad more often
The 'escape' to Lelystad or Almere is primarily due to Amsterdam Zuid having no depot or spare platform to turn the trains. A new platform will be built though.
I thought it calls at ams zuid because it would operate to groningen/leeuwarden in the future and going via ams central would take too long
@@apotato5563 The domestic ICNG will go there as replacement for the 'Koploper'
All international trains will depart from the south station in the future. The depot at watergraafsmeer is still accessible.
Pretty cool its takes around the same time, considering it doesn't even go above 200km/h. Competition for Eurostar's crazy prices is always welcome
Eurostar Antwerp-Rotterdam is like 30/32min but it always delayed and the eurocity direct doing it in like 44min but goes slow for a few minutes so it can be closer infact if u wanna go to Paris cheap u maybe can do this with thé eurocity direct and then take the Eurostar at Brussels
@deshawn8510 The current schedule of the ECD is based on a 160 km/h top speed. This means that with a faster acceleration and top speed, we may see a 37-minute travel time.
14:50 the current timetable is still 160kph due to many traxx's still runing on the route. thanks to the speed restrictions on the HSL the ICNG can do 200KPH to save delay time. the timetable will be fixed next year as the ICR+Traxx is set to fully retire on both domestic as well as international services in september.
The current timetable is actually already adapted for the ICNG, they do travel at 200 km/h. The Traxx units just depart a few minutes earlier.
@memunist5765 No, they don't. The timetable will and is scheduled with a speed of 160 km/h. A friend is a driver on the EuroCity Direct and was able to arrive 10 minutes earlier than scheduled with the ICNG-B.
18 euros seems suspiciously cheap, I really hope that doesn’t change too soon
It is pricing on demand, and can go up to 60 euro's.
@@daanwolters3751 That makes more sense thx!
Eurostar starts at €19
@deshawn8510 their own site says prices start at €29,-
14:10 The supplement exists and remains optional for domestic tickets because plenty of people travel between Rotterdam and Amsterdam using the regular Intercity that goes via Delft, The Hague, and Leiden.
Would be really annoying if you were forced to pay extra for the High-speed service when you don't intent to take that route.
I don\t know if it makes sense, but they should instead have a supplement for full=distance tickets on the Amsterdam - Leiden - Delft - Fotterdam IC so that passengers travelling end-to-end take the ECD/ICD instead.
The seats look like a mix of the Thalys and most recent TGVs, that’s funny (and normal I guess since that’s Alstom)
Also yup! I’ve seen the Antwerpen-Centraal station last August! It looks sooooo good! I was there during Pride so there was a rainbow effect, it was amazing!
The interesting thing about NS is that they “never” take the default interior of the trains builder but test and co-design the seating with passengers. So Dutch versions can have quite different interiors and seats provided by different manufacturers.
It doesn’t is as comfortable as Eurostar or tgv infact it doesn’t have much more then the second class
Yes, have visited Antwerpen Centraal many times and it is indeed in my top 3 of European train stations (together with St. Pancras and Milano Centrale). 🔟 points from me 😄
Honestly one thing that bugs me is the fact that the modern dutch trains don't actually have first class, it's just a more exspensive seat with a different color padding.
There is literaly nothing different apart from seat color, modern dutch train tickets are heavily overpriced for what is offered by it's own but then there is the even more exspensive first class wich is basicly meaningless.
And what is worse is the fact the ns/prorail concern is complaining about making not enough money by selling tickets, so what is the solution they chose: stripping down everything that made riding the train worth it and raising the pricing. Of wich the dutch people responded with: not going with the train...
If i'm honest the coffeecart and first class coupé's made riding the train simply not fun and heavily overpriced and just not worth it if you don't get trainrides free for students.
And the government actually wants people to ride trains but they do nothing to require the ns to change up...
And fun fact the ns wanted to remove toilets alltogether from trains but then people instandly stopped going with the train for a day and it got changed back...
If I remember they only wanted to get rid of the Toilets on the 'sprinter' services, but boy was that an unpopular move, it got bad enough that the House of Representatives got involved and decided that from 2015 onward all new trains ordered for use on the main network had to have toilets, and by 2025 any train that didn't have any would had to have one installed.
The arguments from NS that people could just get out of the train and use the facilities there was just insane.
The government is insane as well they legit have a law that the NS is not allowed to subsidize the train tickets thru the sales of their in station stores
@@OtherwiseUknownMonkey truetrue
I can’t wait to use it this weekend! Finally some competition for Eurostar. Let’s hope they’ll start to lower the prices as well.
No I don't think that will happen anytime soon :( The lowest fares between Ams-Bru are fairly low already, serving more as filler seats when needed, whilst the higher fares basically discourage the use of only the Ams-Bru link on most of the trains (unless your company pays for it and you don't care). Interesting price wise is the Ouigo Classique service between Paris-Bru in combination with this ECD, especially last minute. But Eurostar is not worried about that competition either (more an attack on Flixbus etc).
Great looking train with some well thought out ideas. If it is a hugh speed route the train ought to be capable of the maximum line speed, but thats a minor complaint.
Minor detail, but with the new timetable, the supplement between Rotterdam and Schiphol has been slightly increased. The off-peak supplement is now €1.80, and the peak supplement is now €3.00
Still included in international tickets though! :)
They don’t care actually if u have it or not the most time because the trains are always delayed
I absolutely ADORE the color-coded sections for Meet & Greet, Work, and Quiet cars. That's so clever
Yeah except its not communicated or signed anywhere.
If you buy a ticket online for the specific train, the supplement would be included, but the Netherlands has contactless credit card acceptance across the whole of their public transport network, so impossible to include the supplement if someone is just tapping in and out with their Visa card.
Nice design of the train toilets! I like the approach of making these actually nice places to prevent vandalism.
I've seen one of the toilets vandalized.
I use these trains multiple times a week and don't think they are that great. I would describe the ride experience as noisy and rough, almost like local commuter trains. And the folding tables on the airline style seats are too far away to work on a laptop, I usually don't use them but put my laptop on my lap.
The ICNG is defineatly a rough riding noisy train. But the folding desks for me are better than virm/ddz, although ICM remains the gold standard
This is nice, been following online when they’ll implement the new ICNG on this route. Can’t wait to take a Eurocity Direct train from Schipol to Antwerpen-Centraal using these trains. It was either Eurostar or Eurocity, depending on the prices both seem good depending on the time of departure.
well this outlook of this train looked regional enough lmao
During peak hours, first class tickets are worth the money, which is almost the only reason it still exists.
Yh but €90 to Brussels on this train is not worth it at all they don’t got service at all
There's a bit of controversy around this new train in Belgium. This train took over one of the time slots on he Brussels to Antwerp section. That alone isn't a problem, but this train requires a different international ticket. It's slower predecessor allowed trips between Brussels and Antwerp with a domestic (NMBS/SNCB) ticket and the long term train commuter tickets.
So for domestic travel in Belgium, this train might aswell not exist, as it can't be used for people on a longer domestic journey making transfers, people commuting to and from work, ...
Considering the Brussels to Antwerp section is the busiest trainroute in Belgium, it's not difficult to understand why not every Belgian is a fan of this EuroCity Direct train between Brussels and Amsterdam. Especially during commuting hours, this will result in overcrowding on the remaining trains on the Brussels to Antwerp route.
Time for the Belgian rail operator to work on this line, right? In the Netherlands it’s possible to let trains run on the same tracks, every 10 minutes. And sometimes even more. I’m sure that can be possible in Belgium too.
@@MLWitteman It's allready at a frequency of 8 trains/hr, eurostar and freight trains trains excluded
@ freight trains run there as well? That means it’s about time for some extra tracks on that route.
@@MLWitteman there are already 6 tracks on this route between Brussels and Mechelen, and 4 between Mechelen and Antwerp. Two of those tracks are for slow trains, freight or locals. On the fast tracks there are already 8 trains per hour.
@ ok, wow, I didn’t see that coming.
Great regional train!
Regional? 4 major cities more then 200km apart? Amtrak would cover a distance like this in 4 hours (at least) and the MBTA runs a line to Winchester in like 2 hours and that’s only 60 miles or so
There’s a lot to say about this connection. The travel time is much better now though and more competitive connections for the Eurostar are very much appropriated.
Oh my, everything to avoid the overpriced and always fully booked Eurostar.
Thank you! You are a publicly-known person. I have seen your videos, and I trust your opinion far above statements from anonymous commenters.
The Intercity Direct and the Intercity Eindhoven-Den Haag accelerate to 200 km/h directly when entering the HSL-Zuid. So there you have it.
They shouldve chosen the same train model as the ICE but give it the yellow NS livery
Amsterdam Zuid is currently being converted into an international train terminal.
In the future, all international trains will stop here, such as the Eurostar London/Paris, ICE Frankfurt, IC Berlin, sleeper trains to Munich and Prague, and in the future perhaps the train to Copenhagen.
The municipality of Amsterdam also has plans to extend the metro line from Amsterdam Zuid to Schiphol airport.
Beautiful Cities, Beautiful Trains 👍
Nice train, and I do like the interiors.
Caused a total disaster between Antwerp and Brussels, resulting in a deletion of 1/5 trains an hour per direction. 20% capacity reduction between the first and second largest cities...truly pain.
Af en toe moet natuurlijk de keuze gemaakt worden tussen nationaal en internationaal vervoer aangezien er geen extra rijpad voorzien kon worden. En nu is er 1 trein minder tussen Brussel en Antwerpen dat is ook niet het einde van de wereld hé (: Je kan nu wel sneller in Amsterdam geraken
Je mag de EuroCity toch gewoon pakken? Tussen Antwerpen en Brussel
EuroCity denk ik wel (ben niet zeker). Maar de EuroCityDirect, die naar Amsterdam gaat, mag je niet gebruiken voor binnenlandse trajecten. Deze is vergelijkbaar met een Eurostar op dit vlak (:
How many people from Brussels or Antwerp need to travel to Amsterdam-Zuid? For the financial centre there only? Surely not for the provincial town of Almere, where most people do not work, but sleep.
You can always change onto the metro at Zuid or change trains at Schiphol Airport if you need to be at Central, those trains have been downgraded in comfort but increased in frequency, now 8 trains per hour for most of the day :)
I guess a whole lot more than you think.
There are also a bunch of big hotels near Amsterdam Zuid so even for tourists it’s not a bad place to be. Plus you have the EMA (European medical agency) large banks and lawyer firms next to the station
Geographically, Amsterdam Zuid station is centrally located in the Greater Amsterdam area. Amsterdam Centraal is much further north.
It is weird how similar the (standard) toilet here to the toilets of the ancient CoRail cars on the French TER trains.
Most trains has to be from the same fabric I guess
Obviously the Eurocity that connects Amsterdam, Antwerpen and Brussels must call at the booming station of Almere Buiten! Genius. Doesn't affect anyone, but still very pointless to call there, haha.
Duivendrecht
Almere buiten is een tijdelijke stop. Er moet nu nog gerekend worden met traxx tijden, daardoor is de trein te laat in almere en gaat de sprinter voor. Op almere buiten word gebufferd zodat de sprinter genoeg voorsprong krijgt en je dus niet constant voor rood staat. Als alle traxx weg is kan er gerekend worden met de icng waardoor deze kan vertrekken voor de sprinter.
@racingweirdo I believe the reason it calls at almere buiten and duivendrecht is because the eurocity direct operates a 30 minute frequency between lelystad and rotterdam together with the series 2400. The 2400 used to operate lelystad-dordrecht via the hague but since the new schedule it opperates via the hsl. And the old 2400 called at duivendrecht and almere buiten and that's why the service even now still calls there.
Also almere buiten is considered too busy not to have an intercity stop so in the future a different intercity service will still call there
@apotato5563 no, its just the sprinter. Watch the video fom machinist stefan too see the problem live. Almere buiten will be dropped this year.
@@apotato5563 Duivendrecht is easily the better station between it and Zuid. Everyone goes to Zuid, hardly anyone to Duivendrecht, so you're almost always guaranteed a good spot in the train. But yeah, it's kinda a useless stop I guess for an ICD/ECD. Though I'm glad it exists.
Also the Eurocity Direct doesn’t call at Duivendrecht does it? Because that is why I avoided them so far at least.
Well since 2025 these boys replace the "normal" Intercity service I use to commute. They are very nice and comfy indeed...but the trains they replace were double deckers, so that's quite a drop in capacity which is really felt at peak hour. I'm lucky enough that I can be a bit flexible with my hours, but I hope other commuters are not too bothered.
Is there a reason they only go 200kmph? Because it seems strange to not fully utilise a railway they spend billions building.
The main reason is that higher speeds aren't necessary because distances are so short.
If you need a train in excess of 200 km/h, you will have: a high procurement cost (30-40% higher for 250 km/h train), higher maintenance costs, higher operating costs and not commonality with the rest of the NS fleet. They can, for example, now use the ICNG-B on the domestic services that use the HSL-Zuid.
The acceleration of the train more than makes up for its lower top speed, which makes a higher top speed not needed.
@@StefanWithTrains The trip was a pretty low average speed for a 'high speed' service though. Is there nothing to be done about this?
If the Traxx locos would have got other transmissions they 'll reach 250 KmH with ease.
@@sidesplitter9497 What made it so slow is the temporary speed restrictions on the northern section of HSL-Zuid and the Antwerp-Brussels railway. The line from Antwerp to Rotterdam is for 15% made of 140 km/h lines and 85% 300 km/h lines. There isn't a whole lot to do about it. The Eurostars as is are a whole lot worse in acceleration than these ICNG's.
I loved taking the ICNG to Amsterdam recently. Can't wait to take it again. It felt much faster than the older loco-hauled trains.
It's a pity you couldn't check Antwerp central station. It's named the most beautiful train station in the world by many different articles, and with good reason.
Also, one thing I have noticed after watching different train travel videos is that the first class is never worthy. I live in Antwerp (hence what I said about the station) and I can confirm that. The first class offers nothing extra (at least in the IC trains for short distances) and the seats are not that extra comfortable.
The only positive thing I can say is that as most of people are aware of this, barely anyone buys those seats, so you will always find a seat in a quiet zone, but this is more a positive consequence,not a feature.
Why is the university direct only nine minutes slower than the Eurostar to Brussels considering the Eurostar maximum speed is an extra 100 km/h? Strange.
Rotterdam antwerpen is 95km
300kph=12s/km
200kph=18s/km
95km is about 100km for ease
100×12=1200/60=20min
100x18=1800/60=30min
30-20= 10 minutes longer
And that's basically the only strecht where the eurostar goes faster than the eurocitydirect between rotterdam and brussels.
Also having travelled on both the eurostar is used by tourists who all have bags with them which increases boarding times and the eurostar also has a lower door to seat ratio increasing boarding times more for the eurostar
Is there a reservation fee if you have a Eurail or Interrail pass?
NS trains do not have any reservations, unless it's a DB Train and you wan't to reserve a seat
Most populair downtown destinations can be reach faster via amsterdam zuid and the metro.
Can be reached but not necessarily faster. Also centraal station still is the main hub for further transportation; all metro lines and most tram- and bus lines terminate here.
so these trains no longer stop and reverse at Breda?
Eurocity: yes [Starts in Rotterdam, follows old BeneluxTrain stop, uses belgian trains] Eurocity Direct: no
You can take the EuroCity. It runs the old line from Rotterdam to Brussels
were you in belgium on december 14th? then it was a special goodbye for the last MS66, now they'll be in train world. also it's weird, some old IC trains gets used for the ICdirect which is funny because the new ICNG were supposed to replace them🤣now they need extra trains
These seats should’ve been the bare minimum for new trains in the uk
I do think they would have been too wide for the british profile, but I do agree
The storage for large baggage seems rather limited, just as is the case on the Eurostar/TGV's that ride on this route. If you get in on a later station than the start station (e.g. you get in in Rotterdam, and not Amsterdam) very often all racks will be completely full. And as there is hardly any room between the seats, you are forced to park it in the aisle, much to the dismay of other travellers...
The route is actually Brussel-lelystad centrum
güzel içerik tebrik ederim
And the problem is.................. headwind & inclination!
When climbing the moerdijk brug the ICNG will decellerate from 200>185, not the best but doable
@apotato5563
Oh yeah.... add a stiff headstorm to this; nothing beats a bicycle. 🤣😘
i believe its diverted to amsterdam zuid bcs of construction work at amsterdam centraal & bcs amsterdam centraal is smaller bcs of that so they dont really have space for them.
also they dont include the supplement in domestic trains is because you also can travel via normal rails from rotterdam to schiphol airport. also because of the way the ov chipkaart works. you check in at station A & check out at station B. but you can also travel via station C to B & costs the same. so it would be to complicated.
catering isnt gonna happen as NS stopped it in february 2021 & its not coming back
Ive take both the eurocity and eurocity dirrect and 2nd class is almost always full or over capacity. At this rate id rather they send double deckers like a f-ed up multiple signaling VIRMs in even if they run at only 140
Also don't the VIRMs have place for a 25KV transformator?
Announcements should also be made in German, the by far largest language group in Europe!
This train is great because it's the first intercity with outlets for second class
So the train had Lelystad displayed as destination in Brussels but you can't board it in Amsterdam-Zuid towards Lelystad? Weird.
You can
You can now. This is a test train. You can board this train from Lelystad take it all the way to Rotterdam just on your OV kaart. For Belgium you need a separate ticket though
Those guys who put that ugly grafitti on this train should be ashamed of themselves, but I am afraid they are not ☹️
If the train isn't going at least 250-300km/h it's not a high speed line, just faster than average.
Probably the biggest reason they only go 200 is that this train makes sense for domestic purposes like this. A 300km/h train that runs for 70% on tracks limited to 140 make it rather useless and a waste of money.
This is the highest speed they can get for the money which is actually worth it, hopefully another rail operator is interested in running proper high speed trains though
Even when there wasn't a speed restriction. The Thalys would only beat the 160kmh ICD by 4-5 minutes between Rotterdam and Schiphol airport on the high speed line. The increased upfront and running costs of a train going 250-300kmh Vs 200 just isn't worth it
-The definition of 'high speed' rail most countries in Europe use for now is 200 km/h /125 mph or faster. So it's perfectly right to call these trains here high speed trains.-
@randuru well, it's not that. The definition of high speed rail is 200+ for upgraded lines and 250 for newly build lines.
@@tijsbeek8590 Yes, you're right, my bad. And since this line is newly constructed, trains actually need to go at least 250 km/h here to wear the label 'high speed'.
Nevertheless I like the colorful interiors NS have decided for. Nice trains.
Just took one of these to Rotterdam and was Very Unimpressed!
I found them smelly and stuffy with a musty smell.
Already one of the automatic doors wouldn't work or open.
It was a very noisy running train as well and the carriages were no wehre near as comfortable as the older trains. 2/10 for me.
Typical Dutch train covered in graffiti 🙄 They can't even be bothered to clean it off! 😡 Disgusting.
The service to Amsterdam south is temporarely until Amsterdam Central is rebuild
@@EddieBronkhorst nope
No. Amsterdam Zuid is currently being converted into an international train terminal. In the future, all international trains such as the Eurostar, ICE, IC Berlin, sleeper trains will stop here.
It continues to amaze me that the Belgium and Dutch authorities still do not address the scourge of criminal defacement of their trains and rail infrastructure.
Maybe these governments needs less liberal handslapping of this criminal element and real enforcement with jail time and heavy fines.
Let's be clear, grafitti is not art, but representative of social anarchy which affects the functioning of civil society, as well as having a significant price on the maintenance of th rail networks and, lastly, having an unwelcoming atmosphere for tourists who are a major revenue driver for these two nations.
"The entire journey is in the European Schengenzone, where borders just melt away. Unless you go to Germany that is."
Well.. since December the Netherlands has started with the same semi-legal border controls that Germany is doing.
So sadly no, you might have to deal with passport checks if your train gets randomly selected.
non è alta velocità: i treni Coradia raggiungono al massimo i 200 km/h, e l'Alta Velocità ferroviaria parte da 250 km/h.
Bussel station and train lines - what a really bad condition and uglyness... OMG!!!
Greatings from Prague, CZ.
I say tickets between 8€ and 20€
And already, the (Belgian) graffiti brats did their job.🤬
The Netherlands has its share, too. I find the ubiquitous graffiti here quite obnoxious.