I presume you have a global pass? Then the “Bedingung” it’s just a message you can ignore. It usually states that you can take some international trains with a one country pass for Germany. The ICE to Brussels is one of them.

For the rest it might be a warning that you need to provide sufficient time for your transfer to Eurostar. Due to security and identity checks. You have to be at the channel terminal generally 45 min before departure and that you need your international passport. In summer there tend to be longer queues as well, due to high demand, so the earlier, the better usually .

Nothing to really worry about. Enjoy your trip!

yes, i have a global pass and plan to go from germany to england (so yes we plan on using the eurostar from brussels to london)… we decided to take the route where we have more time at our stops at koeln and brussels in case there are delays or - as you have described - we need to go through security an identity checks.

thank you so much for answering!! now i don’t have to worry anymore about this haha :)

45 minutes is the gate CLOSING time at Eurostar, With the services as busy as they are you need to be at the station well before this to be sure of

It is best to think of Eurostar as a very low flying plane, the procedures for it are similar to airport rather than normal train station.

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/your-trip/check-in

No problem. You probably did the right thing. ;)

The ICE Köln Brussels is very prone to delays and cancellations this summer, so a bit of a buffer is always needed.

Tip: Should the ICE’s screw it up again, you can take the RE to Aachen, take the local train  in the direction of Spa-Geronstère and switch to a (Belgian) intercity to Brussels in Welkenraedt or Verviers.

thanks for the website @Al_G , really helped realize that we need a lot of time! :)

our planned buffer in koeln is 1 hours 37 min and in brussels its 2 hours 21 min… you think that is possible to keep?

@BrendanDB oh dang okay - not a good foresight… we still need to search and pay for our reservation on the eurostar… hopefully we are not too late on this one.

the route you’ve recommended… how long does it take? because it seems to take longer if we take an RE and intercity etc. … 

sorry @BrendanDB , could have easily looked it up: 

(planned) koeln - brussels with the ICE: start 13.42 and arriving 15.35 which leaves us 2 hours and 21 min time until the eurostar depatures.. (eurostar starts at 17.56)

(option 2) koeln - brussels - option you’ve recommended (looked it up on google maps) : start 13.26 and arriving 17.05 which leaves us 51 minutes until the eurostar depatures (eurostar starts at 17.56)

if the ICE from koeln has no delay, we can probably get on option 2 an hours earlier. so it would be start at 12:47 and arriving at 16:05 in brussels...

is that all even possible omg or do i just have a too tight an stressful plan? haha i am a bit of a ship pants regarding things like that… because if you (you seem to have more experience haha) say that this plan is nearly unpossible to pull through, than we probably have to change our plan!

@Katharina Schwendner 

Don’t worry too much, you have quite some buffer and a back-up plan. You’ve planned quite solid. I would do the same as you.

There’s still two Eurostar trains later, if you still have to book better check if reservations for your planned train are still available. Only a limited number of interrail passholder tickets are available, better do it soon. You might be forced to take a later train because of that, or want that, just for peace of mind. ;)

If you book your Eurostar reservation, you’ll get a recommended arrival time at the station/Eurostar terminal stated on your ticket/reservation. That can vary sometimes.

In general, you can always arrive a bit later on earlier trains. On busier afternoon trains you need to factor in a bit more time. Fridays and sundays are typical busy eurostar days.

And for comfort: I regularly took the Eurostar for work. I never arrived 1,5-2 hours before departure in the station, and I’ve never known that the gates close already at 45 min before departure. Just stick to the times mentioned on the Eurostar ticket and you’ll be good. They just try to avoid that everyone  shows up at the same time, just before gate closing time.

And should your itinerary fail in the end, you can always rebook the reservations.

@BrendanDB saving me once again omg thank you so much!!

one last question: if there are still reservations left for interrail passportholders for our planned eurostar (17.56) and we don’t make it due to a delayed train from koeln to brussels for example, how are the conditions with “switching” the eurostar? because you are saying, that if the itinerary fails we can rebook the reservations (of the eurostar)?

thought that rebooking reservations wouldn’t work, thats why i was stressing so much about the first travel day cause i have never been on the eurostar before nor have i taken a trip so far with a train and changing trains (ICE) and stuff haha…  → so we could rebook our 17.56 reservation to an later eurostar (e.g. 18.52 or 20.56)??

If you are delayed by a connecting train you don’t re-book yourself (at that point, odds are that passholder availability will have sold out anyway), you go to a staff member at the earliest opportunity and explain you will miss your connection and hope they are willing to help you.

It is the railway’s responsibility to assist when they have delayed your travel but how much they are willing to or can do varies massively. If all the remaining Eurostars are fully sold out you may not be able to be put on a later train.

@Al_G oh okay, not very happy with this solution but i can’t change anything if it’s going to happen. wishing for the best…

thank you so much!