- Entries -

Code-sharing between DB and Eurostar

Summary

Today saw an interesting new development on the Deutsche Bahn (DB) website. Suddenly a handful of new trains have appeared - they all bear the prefix EST, suggesting a Eurostar service.

Today saw an interesting new development on the Deutsche Bahn (DB) website. Suddenly a handful of new trains have appeared. These trains all bear the prefix EST (suggesting a Eurostar service) and run between Brussels Midi and Frankfurt-am-Main. Although Eurostar has long sold through tickets from London to Aachen, Cologne and Frankfurt, this is the first time that trains bearing the Eurostar prefix have featured on the DB network.

Does this mean that Eurostar’s sleek yellow and grey trains will now be commonplace in Frankfurt? Well, actually not. The arrangement seems to be an interesting and novel case of code-sharing between rail companies. The practice is already commonplace among airlines, with carriers agreeing to carry the flight numbers of other airlines, so making through bookings possible and creating the illusion that their networks are more comprehensive than they in fact are. (There are a number of European examples of code sharing between an air carrier and a rail company. One in the German market is the arrangement between Deutsche Bahn and Lufthansa whereby selected ICE train services to and from Frankfurt Airport station also carry a Lufthansa (viz. LH) prefix).

This evening’s train from Brussels to Frankfurt carries the designation EST 9217. It is actually the regular German ICE service that has long served this route. It is more commonly known as ICE 17. But the existence of a parallel number with the EST prefix invites passengers from Britain to believe that they can now travel right through from London to Frankfurt with Eurostar (albeit with a change of train in Brussels).

hidden europe is intrigued by this development. Might this be the prelude to a more comprehensive code-sharing between Eurostar and DB? Or is it part of a complicated pact that could see German ICE trains running through the Channel Tunnel to London? DB has made no secret of the fact that it has its eyes on the London market. Might this new code-sharing arrangement be DB’s first step in that direction? Watch this space.

Nicky Gardner and Susanne Kries
(hidden europe)

Related articleFull text online

The road to Abergwesyn

The tides in the Mawddach estuary never come too early. Nor too late. The rain never beats too hard on the road to Abergwesyn. hidden europe editor Nicky Gardner celebrates the communities in rural Wales where she once lived.

Related articleFull text online

Of maps and men: Landranger sheet 57

With place names like Pendicles of Collymoon and Nether Easter Offerance, Ordnance Survey Landranger Sheet 57 fires the imagination. Maps tell stories, as do old men in pubs. Like the Tartan traveller we met in the Tyrol who tried to persuade us that Garibaldi had Scottish ancestry. From Baldy Garrow it is but a short step to Garibaldi.

Related articleFull text online

Admiralty Handbooks: Baedekers with a Twist

Some of the best academic minds in Britain spent the Second World War writing guidebooks about far-flung places. We explore a clandestine area of professional geographical endeavour which resulted in the Naval Intelligence Guides – often called the Admiralty Handbooks.