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Comment by piepiepie | Hacker News Reader

Because Great Britain is not part of the Schengen customs zone, customs checks are required before boarding the train (this is the only train at the station with such checks). Due to the renovation, the part of the station where passport and baggage checks by customs officers were performed is to close down && turns out there's not enough space at the station to house temporary border checks, so... no train.

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Why do custom checks happen in NL on the ground, and not on-train? The train still goes through Belgium(at least), where no customs checks would be required

Where on the train would you have place to perform this exactly?

If it's just a passport check they're after, that's fairly easy (though there's always potential for somebody to duck into a restroom or similar).

Customs declarations are usually made at the entry-point (at least with international air travel) - but I don't know how trains do that today (all my train travel was Schengen zone in the late 90s - just passport checks on the train, and only between some countries).

Passport/visa check are easy if they're all ok. But what do you do if you have (a group of) people in the train without valid passports/visas?

international customs checks on the train you mean? where do they do that?

if i'm getting you correctly, it sounds logistically WAY harder. authorities on every train for a start, then not missing anyone, then when someone shouldn't be allowed to pass customs they're already on the train so you can't kick them off, etc.

They do that everywhere else for international trains

> everywhere else

that's my question, where?

the only places I've done that were between countries with very special travel relationships, e.g. schengen. you can travel those countries without a passport and often no border check at all, it's not the same as uk-netherlands

Pre-Ukraine situation there used to be a train between Helsinki (Finland) and St Petersburg (Russia) that did this: border checks on a high-speed train. Definitely some of the more serious checks and visa requirements on that border as well.

Especially eastern Europe. And it used to be done all across Europe before Schengen.

It's still done even within Schengen, e.g. last year I took an overnight train from Vienna to Amsterdam, a trip entirely within Schengen.

German police boarded the train at the first station in Germany and walked the train to check everyone's passport.

That's what they used to do before Schengen. I remember doing interrail when I was young and customs officers coming through the trains checking passports.

My experience with international trains between the US and Canada is that the customs checks happen on the train.

Everywhere? This is the first I've heard of customs checks on trains in Europe at the point of disembarkation. I've been on plenty of cross-border trains where police walk the length of the train and check everyone's passport once it's over the border.

Why would failing a customs check cause you to be kicked off the train? Either your goods will be confiscated, or you'll be arrested etc.

They also check for your being legally allowed into the UK. If you don’t have a visa, they don’t let you through.

> Why would failing a customs check cause you to be kicked off the train? Either your goods will be confiscated, or you'll be arrested etc.

It's easier for everyone if you deny entry rather than prosecuting for unlawful entry. If you can kick people off while they're still in a country they are presumed to be in lawfully, they can figure out their documents and come back later. If you arrest them in the destination country, they've got to figure that all out from immigration detention.

You're conflating customs with immigration.

When you take a train from e.g. the Netherlands to Germany you're already within Schengen at the point of disembarkation.

The police might check your passport details, but you won't be "deported" back over the border you just crossed.

You might be deported from Schengen in its entirety, but then the fact that you just crossed a border isn't important, but e.g. that you overstayed a Schengen visa.

In cases where there is a border with a non-Schenhen country in Europe the train will stop approximately at the border, and you might be refused entry.

But for e.g. Austria to Germany the German police might board at the first German station after the bonder, and then walks the train as it's in motion. That's because it's a customs check.

no, this is immigration. it's the netherlands to england, not the same as austria to germany at all, that's the point

> This is the first I've heard of customs checks on trains in Europe at the point of disembarkation.

The checks are at the point of embarkation before you get on the train. You go through French passport control in London and British passport control in Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam.

I take a train with on-train checks about twice per year. I've seen people sneak past, personally, several times in the past ten years, which implies that they're harder to carry out than if people have to walk through a staffed gate.

Ths UK has this minister who seems to really really really really really not want people sneaking into the UK, not even if it's a handful per year.

The two paragraphs could be causally connected. I don't know.

> Ths UK has this minister who seems to really really really really really not want people sneaking into the UK

You're a braverman than I to say that.

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