I caught the NEW Eurostar to Germany! (Sort of...)

today I'm catching the new Eurostar service that's right Eurostar finally goes to Germany I'll be riding this high-speed train from Brussels in Belgium and speeding through the countryside to our destination so come on board as we discover the new Eurostar from the onboard seating and features to the tasty meal service and Cafe car and I'll even tell you the big problem with this service as we run at up to 300 km an hour across the border hello and welcome back to another video today I'm here at

Brussels South in Belgium and I'm going to be traveling with Eurostar now the Eurostar brand is one that is known for linking London with Paris Brussels and Amsterdam however due to a recent merger with Talis they now also serve Germany too I'll be traveling on board one of these trains here the Eurostar pbka from Brussels over to CL in Germany let's go good morning from Brussels South Station the two names displayed on the building are the station's name in French and femish Dutch the two most

common unspoken languages in Belgium but now let's head inside this big busy station for a look around before we depart this part of the station feels fairly modern having opened in 1992 to facilitate the arrival of tgv Eurostar and Talis high-speed trains and indeed just within the entrance of the building you can find the Eurostar terminal for trains to the UK though our Eurostar train departs from a different area and more on that confusion later on next to the channnel terminal is the inter

national ticket office where you can buy tickets for crossborder trains though I'd recommend buying online directly from the Eurostar website or app the area by this entrance features a lot of shops and food Outlets to use before starting your journey many of these seemed abandoned and some of them even vandalized unfortunately the area around this station suffers from a lot of antisocial behavior and crime so take Extra Care there's also a large car higher office with various companies to choos

e from and just outside here across the road you'll find the Eurostar Lounge for those traveling in premium class back inside the station there are some secure luggage lockers handy if you have a long connection and want to explore the city there are also these active phone chargers letting you exercise while you charge your device the central passage has a bunch more catering outlets and shops including this classic Belgian chocolate shop a pharmacy and um passed away H this name doesn't work t

oo well in English anyway departures are displayed using this classic LCD segment display my train is Eurostar 9423 departing at 1125 to Essen H bhof brussell South Station sees a lot of traffic as the main station in this European capital with over 50,000 people using the station each day the majority of trains are commuter trains operated by sncb Belgium's national operator sncb also run long distance into city trains across Belgium with occasional Services into neighboring Luxembourg some ser

vices are run to Rotterdam and Amsterdam in the Netherlands together with NS the Dutch national operator and there's a bi hourly service to frankfur am mine in Germany provided by German IC high-speed trains but my train today is operated by Eurostar a multinational operator that exclusively runs high-speed trains this company started off in 1994 running from London to Paris and Brussels finally connecting the UK to the greater European rail network however in 2023 Eurostar merged with a company

called Talis promising greater connectivity and smoother ticket booking they even launched a new brand identity meaning all services operated by the new company would be branded as Eurostar this has led to two completely different Services operating under the same name but the confusion doesn't end there as we'll soon get to my train soon arrived at the platform and wow I just love how the former Talis Livery looked the red and silver definitely makes it stand out as a premium train this Fleet

is a type of French tgv with this one being designated as a pbk a set Eurostar has a fleet of 26 trains like this with some of them being of the similar PBA model both dating from the mid 1990s I'm traveling in eurostar's standard class today today so let's head over to coach 25 and find my seat boarding these tgv style trains is usually chaos as they have very few doors and today is no exception with a long queue forming at the door to board the train eventually I made it on board standard clas

s is in a 2 plus2 layout with the same Rich red color scheme as on the outside my seat is number 88 a forward- facing seat without a window today's route is a simple high-speed ride from Brussels through the city of Li and into Germany for the final stretch to K Journey time is scheduled to be 1 hour and 50 minutes covering 222 km or about 138 M we depart on time at 11:25 slowly weaving our way through the complex Junctions of Belgium's busiest Railway line along the way we pass some of the othe

r stations in the city such as Brussels North served by most trains running through the city it's not long before we are out of the congested Central area and beginning to build speed but before we reach our top speed of 300 km an hour let's have a look around the interior the seating itself looks fantastic thanks to its Vivid and plush looking design and sure enough there is loads of padding here which made for an extremely comfortable seat the ergonomic support was also good and up top there's

a massive winged headrest and a thick padded head cloth all seats have folding armrests and these were also nicely padded as for leg room it's pretty tight there's not enough room to stretch out it's okay for trips of this length but on longer routes this would be annoying beside the seat is a small control panel on this you could find the recline button this was a bit difficult to Showcase though as I had someone sat next to me there was also a button for the individual reading light the seat

in front featured a folding table this was surprisingly large and would be ideal for doing some work on on it there's a little metal bar to hold a drink in place and also a strap which I'm told is for holding newspapers or magazines in place down here you can find a storage area for smaller items as well as a folding footrest back outside we're currently heading towards the highspeed line and passing through many stations along the way such as hers CS is another stop we pass through and has a be

autiful modern station it's the eighth biggest city in Belgium as well as being home to the largest Brewing Company in the world from here we take a series of flying Junctions weaving between domestic inter city services to reach the hsl2 high-speed Railway this allows us to accelerate up to our incredible top speed of 300 km an hour traveling at the speed is an absolute Breeze and the great suspension of the Eurostar pbka Fleet means you barely notice any movement unfortunately the terrible win

dow alignment meant that I couldn't actually see any of this and I spent most of my journey staring at a wall I really wish there was a seat selector like there is on some other Eurostar services confusingly this was really annoying especially as there are so many of these seats with a Terri terrible view as I couldn't see much of the Belgian Countryside I chose to use the onboard Wi-Fi instead this was easy to connect to requiring just a couple of TAPS however the Wi-Fi speeds were absolutely p

athetic and barely even worth using on a more positive note every seat gets a European style power socket even in standard class also down here there's a little bin to help keep the train tidy after 45 minutes we're on the approach to Li this is Belgium's fifth largest city and serves as a key Junction on the country's rail network the city is home to Li gam station an impressive structure designed by the Spanish architect Santiago calatrava the design features a Monumental Arch shape with color

ful patterns and plenty of natural light it's really quite the sight to behold after a 4-minute stop we are back on the move and heading towards Germany on our way out of Li the train crosses the river moose one of Europe's major rivers time to get some food the Eurostar Cafe is situated in coach 24 though it's more like a bar Than A Cafe with a spacious and Airy design and places to stand the menu is a expansive but also fairly expensive though there are some special offers allowing you to bund

le multiple items together for a better price while waiting for my food order to be prepared I spent a few moments taking in the pleasant atmosphere here in the Eurostar Cafe car it was definitely a popular place with many passengers standing and chatting over a drink or two after around 5 minutes my order was ready I went for the cheese pizza a pack of salted crisps and apple juice this cost €170 fairly costly but not too bad for on a high-speed train and it was actually really nice too now mov

ing on to first class in a spacious 2+ one seating layout these seats really look like armchairs Eurostar has two ticket types for first class with the more expensive one including a complimentary meal service we've now effortlessly crossed the border from Belgium into Germany possible thanks to the two countries being members of the shenan agreement there's a bit of a stereotype in Germany that says trains are always late and sure enough we're held just after the Border while awaiting a platfor

m ladies and gentlemen the station of Arin is not yet ready for us us we should be able to leave in 2 or 3 minutes after this minor hold up we pull into aren bov with the abundance of trains in the iconic DB Livery an indicator we're in Germany akena bhof is an international rail Hub being sat at a TriPoint border with frequent local trains running to both Belgium and the Netherlands after a few minutes we are once again accelerating back up to high speed we even pass one of the German IC high-s

peed trains and what looks like an abandoned station luggage space can be found in the form of sizable overhead luggage racks there are a few luggage Stacks in the vestibules too but as there are lots of reports of luggage theft on the former Talis trains I prefer to keep my luggage nearby you'll also find a stylish coat hook between Windows and if you look closely you'll notice this is still branded as Talis if you actually get a window seat then you'll find an effective adjustable blind as wel

l as an air vent along the bottom of the window by the way these windows were absolutely filthy unfortunately train cleanliness is very lacking in Western Europe and this premium high-speed train was no exception each carriage has one or two toilets found next to the gangways the these were in good condition though they were really cramped the soap dispenser was working fine as was the water a hand dryer was also provided and working well passing through the beautiful station of Duran is a sign

that our journey is nearly over so let's talk about the problem with this service well despite being branded as Eurostar it doesn't actually run to London instead it's a separate Talis service run under the Eurostar name this merger has caused a lot of confusion with the two former branches of the Eurostar company having completely different travel classes and varying policies on luggage lounge access and ticket flexibility and speaking of tickets I booked my standard class one-way ticket 2 mont

hs ahead which cost £21 for this 2hour high speed train trip I think that's pretty good value for money as we begin to pass through some of K's Suburban stations the train slows down we also pass by the large maintenance facility here where you can see various DB and fix train sets awaiting their next duties and eventually after a further delay within Germany we pull into K buroff 15 minutes late at 13:30 overall I I had a comfortable and quite pleasant journey with Eurostar today except the lac

k of a window view my biggest complaint has to be the confusing merger which appears to cause more problems than it supposedly fixes but as always let me know what you think of the Eurostar pbka trains in the comments and to compare this old tgv set to Germany's incredible new highspeed train then click up here now te