Why I won’t ride Thalys high-speed again... (NIGHTMARE JOURNEY!)

See, this is where the Dutch part of me starts kicking in. Because if I paid for a meal service, and don't get meal service. The first thing I do when getting off the train, is go straight to the ticket booth, and demand money back to be equal to what the ticket would've been without the meal service.

My biggest problem with both Thalys and Eurostar are the completely absurd prices compared to SNCF and DB. It's especially funny when you find out that the capacities of the Eurotunnel are only partly used to keep competition away. Lovely!

Belgian traindriver here. Brussel Kapellenkerk is just a small station on the extremely busy North/South line. To keep the train traffic flowing at 87 trains per hour during rush hour, it is not feasible to have more than the 2 trains per hour that stop here. Each of the 6 tracks has a frequency of about 15 trains per hour. That's one train every 4 minutes.

Richard, I think you and I have totally different opinions of what a nightmare journey would be like.

Great video though I must make one correction. Brussels is in fact the biggest city in the country with around 1.2 milion inhabitants. Brussels is however made up of (I think) 19 communes of which one is called Brussels (which just makes up the small inner center) and does indeed have around 200k inhabitants.

Unfortunately, when large companies have the monopoly on major transport routes then customer service tends to go out of the window. It’s all about the profit margin rather than creating a pleasurable experience for those using the service. They know passengers can’t or won’t go elsewhere. Competition from open access providers is needed in my view. Thalys has gained a poor reputation in recent times.

A few years ago I also experienced a nightmare journey whilst traveling from Rotterdam to Paris with Thalys. My train got cancelled out of nowhere, leaving me stranded at Rotterdam Central, with zero support from Thalys. I had to take the much slower NS International to Brussels-Midi, where I would be able to board a different Thalys train to Paris. That Thalys train had no seats left anymore, which resulted in me having to sit on a foldable chair for the remainder for the journey... Ever since that day, I have never been on board another Thalys train, and I never will be.

The reason Bruxelles-Chapelle only sees 1 train per hour is congestion. With only 6 tracks, the line between Bxl-Midi en Bxl-Nord is the busiest in the country. All trains (except high speed) serve the 3 major stations (Midi, Central, Nord). The 2 smaller ones (Congres, Chapelle) can't be served more, because all other trains would be stuck behind. This part of the network already is the most vulnerable to delays, so they avoid extra stops. Also notice all these stops are very close to each other. You can simpy walk to one of the 3 major stations.

I travel Thalys regularly between Düsseldorf and Brussels, and it's usually great - clean, comfortable and punctual (which is often more than you can say for Deutsche Bahn by comparison). It's a shame you had such a bad experience - they ought to provide a partial refund since they provided no meal service. I usually travel in Comfort, and really like it. I do agree though that some of their trains do need some renovation, but others are mostly fine.

The strap behind the table ist for something, that guys your age may not know anymore, it was called "newspapers" and was very famous at the time these trains were lounged. Yes, the Thalys fleet shows it's age here and there. I guess the fleet will undergoing a renovation shortly, because as far as I heared, the Thalys brand should disappear in some time, due to the merge with Eurostar. I think you should ask to get the price differende between comfort and Premium back, because of no service. The 20€ Voucher will not help you if you don't travel on Thalys more often. So they have to give the money back to your account, because they made misstrakes and didn't provide the service they promised.

You said Brussels has just 190,000 inhabitants. But the city of Brussels is part of the greater metropolitan area of the Brussels Capital Region, which is in fact one big urban area (one ‘city’ in fact to keep it simple) and has about 1.2 million inhabitants.

The last time I travelled with Thalys (in standard accommodation) I was sitting at the end of a coach and was aware of what to me seemed like a strong fishy smell; after travelling for about 1 hour I visited the toilet and realised the "fishy" smell was actually coming from the toilet. The toilet bowl was leaking and the floor was soaking wet with p**s. That pretty much put me off Thalys for life

I think the reason of Thalys train conditions is because of overused. Due to the fyra delay and cancelation, this is the only high-speed service between Netherlands and Belgium. Normally Fyra can take customer and increase the number of train available. Will see when the coradia 200 will be in service in the next years

I think no train service beats Japan when it comes to service, time management, safety & quality. Hats off to them.

What I found or felt was interesting, when you get to the Netherlands, was that the rails seem straight for most of the journey but dive and climb rapidly as you go up and under roads and canals at high speed. Particularly as the rails dive underground, you get the feeling that the train is about to lift off the rails!

Thalys suffers from a chronicle under-investment, the trains show their age. That said, as you point out, the crew is the saving grace. I've been stuck twice abroad due to bad weather conditions and each time, I could rely on them to find a solution to go back home.

Recommended or not, thalys is the only direct train that runs between NL and France. If you want another option you have to take the slower NS intercity to Brussels and then SNCF TGV to Paris or beyond.

Oh my god, closed bar, flickering light, broken footrest and refunded meal, such a NIGHTMARE. Scared for life. How in the world did you survive this? So brave, you are a hero!

Your video is a great example of good use of music in selective placement, selection, and volume variance. Bravo! Unlike so many videos that annoy with unselectively placed incessant music that just ruins the video and drives me and others away quickly.

Travelled Thalys Amsterdam - Brussels last summer - very comfortable and impressive in 2nd, better than Eurostar Brussels - London. Avanti London to Preston in 2nd class I rated 3rd. Overall Amsterdam to Preston in 7 hours is impressive and the overall travel experience was great.