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Belgium
Share information and ask questions about accessible travel in Belgium.
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Eurostar (to Brussels)
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Eurostar (to Brussels)
This is the full text from my blog post about the Eurostar train service to Brussels in Belgium. If you visit the post on my Blog there are photographs accompanying it.
http://www.weekender.blog/2018/08/14/eurostar/
On Friday 27 July 2018, after several years of thinking about, it I finally travelled on Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. I travelled on the 17:31 departure to Amsterdam but only as far as Brussels. I arrived in London Euston station on a Virgin West Coach departure from Chester and as it was a warm sunny day (st)rolled the short distance along the Euston Road to St Pancras. On arrival at St Pancras the signage for wheelchair access could have been a lot better, I had to ask some people for directions.
Check in at St Pancras was very disorganised, I was directed to the special assistance check in where there were many people sitting and standing around and only one lady on the desk. We all just waited until she came to us one by one to check us in and, if needed, arrange for someone to accompany us through security and passport controls. I had someone assist me but the next time I travel on Eurostar after check in I will make my own way through to the departure platform.
To board the train at St Pancras they bring this huge ramp/platform that folds out. You go first up a long ramp parallel to the train on to a platform and then turn through 90 degrees to a final short ramp in to the carriage. You can see the ramp in the photograph to the left, on both times I used it was used the other way around, the short ramp the man was standing on was not used, the ramp that is not lowered was used instead. I am not sure if this is because there are two different types of Eurostar trains, the ones I travelled on have 16 coaches the others have 16 coaches and a power car each end.
The wheelchair seating on the Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam service are in Standard Premier class. There are two wheelchair spaces which have a table and a seat for a companion sitting opposite. Each of the two wheelchair spaces are facing in the opposite direction and are in coach 14 heading to the continent and in coach 3 on the return trip; it’s the same coach just the numbering is re-ordered so that coach 1 is at the front in both directions.
In Standard Premier class you get an airline style meal, travelling out we had chicken with rice, a bread roll and a piece of cake with a sauce under it. You also get a bottle of water and they come round offering soft drinks, fruit juice, wine and tea or coffee. The tea or coffee service comes around several times during the journey. The Amsterdam bound journeys have no stops between London and Brussels and the trip takes only 1 hour 48 minutes.
On arrival in Brussels, despite there being an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair waiting to board for a journey to the Netherlands, there was no ramp to be seen. The onboard staff who were getting off here got on the telephone to see what was going on and waited around until the ramp arrived. This was just a simple straight ramp that anyone who has travelled by train in the UK will be familiar with, but on the Eurostar it was at a very steep angle!
On the return trip check in was much more organised, on entering the Eurostar concourse I was directed to the Business Class check in where I was the only person checking in. I was immediately accompanied through security and passport controls. I was told to wait at the front of the checked in people and someone came to assist me with a boarding ramp in plenty of time for departure. This was again with a steep ramp. On this journey we had two stops before arrival in London, the first was at Lille Europe in France and then in Ebbsfleet International. The meal service was similar to that on the outwards journey but was chicken with pasta and a different kind of cake.
Eurostar is a quick and easy way of getting to the continent from London and is very wheelchair friendly. I look forward to using it again sometime in the future.
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4 Replies
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Thank you! That was fascinating! The pictures were great to see on your blog. In Japan there is no set meal, but you can buy them on the platform or from the trolley. Seems a lot more like an airplane than train.
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Thanks!
What is the process for booking the wheelchair space on the Eurostar?
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When you go online at Eurostar to book there is a link to click for wheelchair bookings and you make your booking there. Proving you are not travelling to the Netherlands you don’t have to do anything else, ramps are arranged (should be!) for you.
With the Netherlands you have to contact them to book assistance, it doesn’t make this clear on the booking site but I *think* you only have to contact them if you are coming back from the Netherlands. This is because currently you can travel to Amsterdam and Rotterdam on Eurostar you have to travel back from these cities via a Thalys train to Brussels where you then complete passport formalities.
When the UK and the Netherlands have signed a deal and put in place passport controls at the two Dutch stations then you will be able to travel directly back from them. This is expected in 2020.
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Wow! In Japan you still need to go to the ticketing office or call a special number that is not really advertised… and even then you need to wait for a few hours while they “check availability”…
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