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Tomorrow I'm arriving on the Eurostar in Brussels at 19:11. I have a train to Cologne I'm meant to catch at 19:28. I'm pretty nervous about making this connection as I have a ton of heavy luggage and I'm by myself. Last time I was in the Brussels station I got lost pretty easily and it was hard for me to find the platform for my train. So I thought that knowing where I'm supposed to go in advance could really help me make this train.

I checked my ticket but there's no platform information printed on it. Any ideas?

2 Answers 2

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As Roflcoptr says, your Thalys is booked to leave from Platform 5.

Your best bet for platform 5 is to exit the Eurostar platform on the exit about half way along the train - not the one at the very front of the train. This'll drop you down by the Thalys lounge, and pretty much by a set of stairs up to platform 5. There's also a lift there too, handy with your luggage.

You should be able to make the platform change in about 5 minutes, so as long as your Eurostar isn't late you should be just fine

If you look at this map of Brussels Midi station (found from here), , if you take the mid-platfrom exit, that's the set of lifts/escalators in the pinky-red circle in the bottom right. Just above that is marked Cybelys a symbol of a person sat on a lounger, which is the Thalys lounge, and the lifts + escalators just above that are the ones onto the Thalys platforms.

(If you were to take the exit at the front of the Eurostar, that drops you at the left of Gallerie du Midi on the map in the bottom left, then you have to walk all the way round to the upper red Thalys / TGV area to be able to get up to the platforms)

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  • You mean by this that the Eurostar arrives on either platform 1 or 2? According to the guy I booked my ticket with, my carriage is near the front of the train, so that's quite annoying if I'm looking for a mid platform exit (I will probably end up being caught behind a ton of people)
    – victoriah
    Oct 22, 2011 at 19:10
  • Platforms 1 and 2 are the dedicated Eurostar ones. Nothing else uses them, and the Eurostar never goes anywhere else (due to the security and immigration requirements). The exit you want is near something like coach 10. One option is to walk through the train about 10 minutes before arrival, so you're in the middle of the train when you get off!
    – Gagravarr
    Oct 22, 2011 at 20:37
  • FYI, your link for the map is broken, it just goes to the Belgian Rail homepage... Dec 19, 2012 at 15:01
  • I've emailed them, apparently they have removed the map in the site redesign and it's no longer available :( Don't suppose anyone can find a copy of it hosted elsewhere?
    – Gagravarr
    Dec 20, 2012 at 11:57
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    The new link for the map is: b-rail.be/nat-r/E/assets/downloads/brux_midi_angl.pdf Also, in case it should disappear again, the Internet Archive has a copy: web.archive.org/web/20120813021744/http://www.b-rail.be/nat/E/…
    – Rinzwind
    Jul 16, 2013 at 22:02
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Your train leaves from track 5.

The Belgian RailTime website can give you this information.

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