Pendolino vs Eurostar vs ICE3

[j0hn0]

Hello All

Having popped back to the Uk at the weekend on the train, I thought I'd share a few of my findings with you, if you can be bothered to read it that is

- €125 from Düsseldorf - Rugby return is a bargain. Book in advance, like a plane and it is at least €25 cheaper than any flight - which also involves transfer from BHX

- EMU's are great IF you dont sit over a powered bogie. ICE3 - yes your hear a great noise when accelerating BUT you really feel all the movements of the train and its pretty uncomfortable. Eurostar - no powered bogies and articulated coaches means that I hardly felt a point in brussels at all, really smooth ride. Pendolino - same as ICE3, smooth as butter if not sat over a powered bogie.

- comfort also depends on track. HS1 and the line from Brussels to Köln are super smooth and built really well. WCML to Rugby felt like I had gone back in time. Honestly, I have never felt the bogies move around so much, you can feel the ricketty track moving underneath you (when sitting above a powered bogie) and the fact that they do 125mph over this knackered old line amazes me even more that they havent had more breakdowns. We all complain about the rattling inside a pendo, the crampedness, plasticky etc etc, but the fact remains that these trains power up and down the country, non stop every day, tilting left and right over broken old track with hardly a murmur. Our Pendos really do have a hard life.

- seats and interiors. ICE3 have lovely seats in standard. Lots of leg room and reclinable with soft cushioned headrest, however, I just could NOT get comfortable and ended up with that pain in the cocsicks you get after long journeys in a poor car. Eurostar has a VERY dated interior, the seat even have wingbacks which spoils the "view" somewhat. There is lots of overhead space but it was so dark in there with so little legroom and restricted view that the comfort of unpowered articulated bogies was negated. Pendo seats were actually quite comfortable. It felt very modern in there after a eurostar but of course, more cramped. Tilting at 125mph really does feel great, especially when you get a higher feeling of speed because of the small towns you are racing through and the track you are crashing over. Rather than hours of straight, flat tedium on the eurostar.


So in summary - Pendolino are amazing feats of engineering considering the infrastructure they run on, ICE3's are super posh but leave me with a pain in the @rce and Eurostars are just so dated and their pininfarina upgrade cannot come soon enough. Thanks for 2 hours of looking at a wall!

Also, i do not think that High speed rail can yet beat the plane because the connection times with eurostar are just stupid, even though we needed it because the ICE was 20 minutes late, yes thats right the GERMAN train was the only one that was late!!!!