European Railroad Discussion > The journey home

Our journey home from Mainz to South Wales started at Mainz Römisches Theater Bhf, catching a VLEXX DMU to Saarbrucken one stop to Mainz Hbf, where we caught ICE 1022 08:20 to Köln Hbf. We should have been going via Frankfurt Flughafen, but as on the way out ICE 16 Frankfurt to Brussels was cancelled between Frankfurt and Köln. There's an ongoing signalling problem in the Siegburg / Bonn area. So our ICE 1022, an ICE1 set, is routed down the Rhine Valley to Köln, via Koblenz and Bonn. We left Mainz on time but lost time consistently, arriving in Köln some 40 minutes late. The reason was the amount of freight traffic being diverted down the west bank of the Rhine, on account of the eastbank line being closed between Gremburg and Koblenz until next Monday, July 28th. We must have passed 30 freight trains heading south, either on the move or in passing sidings, and overtook four which were heading north, sometimes after a lengthy crawl whilst they recessed into passing sidings, which aren't exactly common! From Köln IC16 to Brussels ran on time, arriving at 13:38. We're now on Eurostar 9141, 14:52 Brussels to St Pancras.

1: A pair of three car Vlexx DMUs arriving in Mainz Hbf as we waited for ICE1022. Vlexx (Vier Land Express - as it operates in four states - Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and Hesse (Germany) and Alsace (France). It's a subsidiary of Trenitalia(!).
2: And here is ICE1022 arriving from Nuremburg, where it started at 05:28. Eventual destination is Dortmund.
3: The ICE1 sets include compartments as well as open saloons.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/25 08:52 by 86235.

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4: In Köln we barely had time for a leisurely cup of coffee before IC16 was called. This class 146 was on a push pull service to Siegen. It should have left four minutes before I took the photo!
5: Brussels Midi, another loco hauled push pull service pulling in to Midi as we boarded our Eurostar

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Sounds like an interesting trip even if not punctual! Would have liked to see the parade of freight along the Rhine!

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