fast early train

October 18, 2007 2:22 PM

I need to get from Paris to Cologne as fast as I can without flight.

I need to get to Cologne(Koln) by 9:00AM after leaving Paris at 2AM or so... this is weekday...

the air price was around $500-700 for one way...

I thought about renting a car... but 4-5 hour driving at that hour and a meeting doesn't sound so good.

any ideas.?

The trains are good.. but I am not at all familiar with any european train system at all... i checked thalys.. it gets there at 10:45am.. (too late)

posted by curiousleo to travel & transportation (7 comments total)

The Oracle says it involves two changes and takes at least 9h20m.
posted by genghis at 2:42 PM on October 18, 2007

Alright, I think the Thalys has a direct route from paris to cologne. The ICE is the german equivalent, you can check it here: Deutsche Bahn (includes Thalys routes). But it seems they don't have any traffic in the early morning hours.

And you should know, if you are planing traveling in the next weeks. German loc. drivers are in a labour dispute and could go on strike any day. Thalys is not german though.
You could check news here (international CNN might do it).
posted by donut at 3:02 PM on October 18, 2007

More importantly, French train workers are striking right now and Thalys service is spotty. Currently, 40% of France-Germany traffic is cancelled.
posted by atomly at 3:13 PM on October 18, 2007

TGV is the fastest train out there. If you want to arrive early, take the night train. It's cheap and has beds. Just remember that the french TGV is faster than the german ICE, but the ICE is less crowded and more comfortable. Go Bahn.de and buy your ticket with credit card.
posted by markovich at 7:23 PM on October 18, 2007

If you do choose to take the train and purchase your ticket online, know that you won't be able to retrieve the ticket from the machines at Gare du Nord if your credit card doesn't have a security chip. I found this out the hard way on Tuesday going from Paris to Köln Hbf, but once that was out of the way the trip was fine.
posted by sanko at 10:51 PM on October 18, 2007

I've done that route on the ICE, except I was going in the other direction (Köln to Paris). It was a few years ago and I don't remember the timing, but it was pretty fast and comfortable. I think it involved one change of trains. Because I originated in Germany, I booked the entire thing through DB.

Just be careful with the DB scheduling system: it will schedule some VERY TIGHT connections if you're not careful. As in, if you're not hauling ass from the moment that Train A opens its doors, you may not make it onto Train B before it closes its. As a student of the School of Amtrak, I quickly learned that all those jokes about the Germans and their train schedules had a basis in fact after all.

Can't help you with the labor situation, though. If you can, maybe you can go to a DB ticketing desk and talk to a human? I always found them to be pretty helpful, as long as you're polite and respectful.

Also, you may want to get an all-services timetable, that will show the trains on multiple carriers; if some of the services aren't running, you might be able to make good time by plotting your own route through an intermediate city. If you can get to Brussels you may have more options, since I think there is regular ICE service from there to Köln.
posted by Kadin2048 at 11:02 PM on October 18, 2007

To check train timetables within Europe, I always use bahn.de (you can change the language to English).
When you find the connection you like, go wherever you need to buy the ticket (SNCF in France, PKP in Poland, SSB in Switzerland etc.) with your connection details.
posted by rom1 at 1:02 AM on October 19, 2007