tell me about eurostar
- Thread starter Pingu
- Start date
ouirdeaux
Caring, Understanding, Non-judgemental Type
I like boats, but there's not much to be said for the Dover-Calais ferries. DFDS from Dover to Dunkirk is better, but no trains at Dunkirk. Harwick-Hoek van Holland was bearable when it was 4 hours, but now it's six. And the trains that went Moscow are gone, and all that's left is something that's part of the Rotterdam transit system.
SysOut
¯¯¯
LOL. Never heard of pensioners?
I suppose your holidays are just one hectic rush?
It's just a boat.
And being out on deck in the sun or wind is, as you know, just great.
Better than being in an aluminium tube.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Bahnhof Strasse writes these posts to get a rise out of people. They are typed out in first class airport lounges, and/or inbetween arranging air travel for the monied classes.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Yeah, we’re at Heathrow now, off to New York for 5 days. Rush, rush…
teuchter
je suis teuchter
It's more that it's the airlines they compete with.
And the market they are most focused on is city centre to city centre.
The idea that you'll get a much cheaper deal flying is mostly rubbish - if you are part of that market. Look at prices either for travel quite soon, or somewhat in advance, and you'll see that Eurostar and Easyjet etc are quite comparable. For the city to city market Eurostar can pitch their prices a little higher because (a) the journey is much quicker and (b) the flight base prices have to have travel to and from the airports added on.
Things look different if you are not in London but within easy range of an airport, because then Eurostar loses much of its time advantage, and you have a cost to get to St Pancras, hence the sometimes slightly cheaper flight prices will be more attractive.
My impression is that Eurostar have enough of a market in people travelling centre to centre that they aren't that bothered about capturing people travelling from other start points, and this explains one of their main downsides, which is a lack of integrated ticketing with other rail operators, especially on the UK side.
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
Teuchter is correct that Eurostar is a total fail for anyone not within cheap and easy reach of St Pancras Station (i.e. the vast majority of the UK population). It also loses any vestige of advantage if your final destination isn't Paris or one of the few other cities it serves. If you're travelling to Paris, Lille, Bruges, or Brussels, and can afford the ridiculous fares, it's great. Otherwise it's just a novelty toy for people with too much time and money on their hands.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
Agreed.
hash tag
Books, not bombs
We went on the inaugural trip to Avignon; is that not still running? We loved it.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
Read about Ebbsfleet & Ashford recently as above. The issue with cycles not being allowed is Brexit related as well. It too difficult if they're not transport with the owner, they become cargo needing checks etc.
oryx
Sitting on the bok of the day
Went on the Eurostar just last week, for the first time since 2012.
Within the parameters mentioned above (reasonable access to St Pancras, availability of destination) I'd take it over flying any day.
The hassle and time to get through checks is better than flying pre-Covid and pre-Brexit.
I did find that the standard of the carriages has plummeted, though. I'm sure they used to be quite luxurious for standard class, with tables at every four seats and window views. Now they're no better than your average South Eastern or Southern train!
(We went to Ghent, an easy journey from Brussels Midi, and a city I'd really recommend).
Within the parameters mentioned above (reasonable access to St Pancras, availability of destination) I'd take it over flying any day.
The hassle and time to get through checks is better than flying pre-Covid and pre-Brexit.
I did find that the standard of the carriages has plummeted, though. I'm sure they used to be quite luxurious for standard class, with tables at every four seats and window views. Now they're no better than your average South Eastern or Southern train!
(We went to Ghent, an easy journey from Brussels Midi, and a city I'd really recommend).
iamwithnail
Well-Known Member
Going on Eurostar to Brussels in a couple of weeks, taking the kiddo on a little trip at half term, he’s v excited by Belgian waffles. Been probably four or five years since I’ve been on Eurostar. Will report back.
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hash tag
Books, not bombs
Frites with mayonnaise?
Pickman's model
Starry Wisdom
their lovely fruit beers perhaps more of a draw
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
They have increased business premier fares from £490 return to £550. Which was nice of them.
iamwithnail
Well-Known Member
Frites and waffles and chocolate, gone increasingly off beer the last few years!
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
No services to Amsterdam for 11 months next year
www.euronews.com
Eurostar will run direct London-Amsterdam trains this summer
A six month suspension of services will no longer take place as the rail operator has found a solution to Amsterdam station works.
www.euronews.com
Callie
Pivoting
Bus Honeygun
This week the score draws are plentiful
More trains and some price competition for Eurostar would be nice, but I can't help being a bit sceptical:
www.reuters.com
Planned Eurostar competitor Evolyn to buy 12 trains from France's Alstom
Evolyn said on Wednesday it agreed to purchase 12 trains from Alstom for its planned high-speed rail service under the English Channel, which aims to challenge Eurostar's monopoly on the connection.
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
If they had a dedicated bike area, for 4 bikes?, there'd be huge demand especially if they weren't so arsey as Eurostar.More trains and some price competition for Eurostar would be nice, but I can't help being a bit sceptical:
Planned Eurostar competitor Evolyn to buy 12 trains from France's Alstom
Evolyn said on Wednesday it agreed to purchase 12 trains from Alstom for its planned high-speed rail service under the English Channel, which aims to challenge Eurostar's monopoly on the connection.
teuchter
je suis teuchter
These stories about potential Eurostar competitors seem to pop up once every year or two but so far nothing has come of any of them.
Meanwhile, eurostar finally running at full capacity again, or nearly:
www.standard.co.uk
Meanwhile, eurostar finally running at full capacity again, or nearly:
Eurostar running nearly full trains to Paris for first time since pandemic
Eurostar has been able to run virtually full trains from London to the Continent for the first time since the pandemic after overcoming border control issues and staff shortages, it can be revealed.
www.standard.co.uk
DJWrongspeed
radio eros
The issue is the special trains needed to go through the tunnel, I think that defeated DBahn. You're right to be skeptical. When are Ebbsfleet and Ashford going to open ? Would that need to happen before a competitor joined?
teuchter
je suis teuchter
About ten years ago the rules changed and most of the special requirements for the design of trains using the tunnel went. So there are now existing train designs that can be used in principle. I think part of the complication for DB was that they'd have to be able to run on the German network too but that's not technically insurmountable. Some of the difficulties relate to dealing with passport control and the security theatre of scanning luggage, meaning that you have to have special facilities at the other end of the route.
Running from Paris to London is relatively straightforward because those facilities are already there, and as I understand it, you can pretty much use an existing TGV design.
As far as I'm aware there are currently no plans to reopen Ebbsfleet or Ashford. I wonder if a competitor would kick Eurostar out of their complacency though.
Running from Paris to London is relatively straightforward because those facilities are already there, and as I understand it, you can pretty much use an existing TGV design.
As far as I'm aware there are currently no plans to reopen Ebbsfleet or Ashford. I wonder if a competitor would kick Eurostar out of their complacency though.
Jennaonthebeach
What would Picard do?
I've only been on a train on a boat the one time, going across to Sicily. I slept through the whole process and arrived in Palermo for late morning. It hardly took much time and saved me having to pay for a hotel room!
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