I would LOVE to get to Bordeaux on one train ~ I tried it last year and had a nightmare when metro strikes meant I nearly missed the connection :/ Absolutely destroyed the colin the caterpillar cake I was taking to my French friend
Eurostar did run a direct service from St Pancras to Marseille for a few years from 2015-2020 so I think this deserves a higher score!
I took it once and the outbound journey was great six hours from London to the Med! The return was a pain because of the mandatory de-training/re-boarding at Lille for customs and immigration.
I was wondering that, but didn’t raise it as it was only ever a seasonal service, the new high speed lines in the west of France put those destinations much closer time-wise, and that Eurostar clearly doesn’t have an immediate appetite to reinstate the service.
Granted it was many years ago, but I think the Eurostar service from London to the south of France (Lyon, Avignon and Marseilles) was a single daily service all year. I did it a couple of times and it was full, so I think there is at least some market potential there, although the immigration shuffle at Lille was a major pain as Philip mentions.
Independent mentions the service as being year round in 2015:
Although a single seat through service is preferable, there could be mileage in initially providing connecting services to suitable hub stations (Marne? Brussels?).
Increase capacity from London with nonstopping trains to hub, guaranteed connections, simple through ticketing etc. Test and learn different services and enable seasonal services.
The service from London could be a through service to one destination while bulking ridership with interchange traffic; and maybe also use one of the other UK stations to provide additional passenger capacity aimed at interchange.
The trains can't 'reach Europe' - they're already running in Europe when they're in the UK. Basic geography and English language, not politics. Europe isn't 'over there', unless we've moved continent?
I’m using Europe as shorthand for the continental mainland. I don’t think that’s controversial, in the same way that the Isle of Wight is part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but not part of Great Britain or of Northern Ireland.
I would LOVE to get to Bordeaux on one train ~ I tried it last year and had a nightmare when metro strikes meant I nearly missed the connection :/ Absolutely destroyed the colin the caterpillar cake I was taking to my French friend
Eurostar did run a direct service from St Pancras to Marseille for a few years from 2015-2020 so I think this deserves a higher score!
I took it once and the outbound journey was great six hours from London to the Med! The return was a pain because of the mandatory de-training/re-boarding at Lille for customs and immigration.
I was wondering that, but didn’t raise it as it was only ever a seasonal service, the new high speed lines in the west of France put those destinations much closer time-wise, and that Eurostar clearly doesn’t have an immediate appetite to reinstate the service.
Granted it was many years ago, but I think the Eurostar service from London to the south of France (Lyon, Avignon and Marseilles) was a single daily service all year. I did it a couple of times and it was full, so I think there is at least some market potential there, although the immigration shuffle at Lille was a major pain as Philip mentions.
Independent mentions the service as being year round in 2015:
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/france-by-rail-a-new-train-service-connects-london-to-marseille-10235140.html
Great summary of past, present, and potential future Channel Tunnel service entrants, and well analysed.
Although a single seat through service is preferable, there could be mileage in initially providing connecting services to suitable hub stations (Marne? Brussels?).
Increase capacity from London with nonstopping trains to hub, guaranteed connections, simple through ticketing etc. Test and learn different services and enable seasonal services.
The service from London could be a through service to one destination while bulking ridership with interchange traffic; and maybe also use one of the other UK stations to provide additional passenger capacity aimed at interchange.
The trains can't 'reach Europe' - they're already running in Europe when they're in the UK. Basic geography and English language, not politics. Europe isn't 'over there', unless we've moved continent?
I’m using Europe as shorthand for the continental mainland. I don’t think that’s controversial, in the same way that the Isle of Wight is part of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but not part of Great Britain or of Northern Ireland.
Hey, Eurostar dropping Ashford as a stop pissed mega-BTL landlord Fergus Wilson off mightily and I consider that a boon to human flourishing.