tell me about eurostar

[IC3D]

I've seen it go past a few times lately and looked half full?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I've seen it go past a few times lately and looked half full?

Only two trains in each direction each day right now, one to Paris and one to Amsterdam via Lille, Brussels & Rotterdam. And even with so few trains they always have availability.

 

[kenny g]

I miss being able to get on a train and go to France. Fucking Covid.

Trains are still operating. It is just more complicated nowadays.

Eurostar.com: Book Europe train tickets and holidays

Eurostar Official Website. Book your train tickets to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Lille, Cologne, and many more European destinations with Eurostar.

www.eurostar.com

To be honest I miss other things, and a couple of people, a bit more due to Covid than trains.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Always wanted to take train down to Avignon but it's pricey as feck and runs at some really odd times.

 

[mx wcfc]

Always wanted to take train down to Avignon but it's pricey as feck and runs at some really odd times.

Mrs Mx booked it I honestly don’t know what it cost but we went in late September. It only runs there over summer. We did have to stay in London the night before as our train left at the crack of dawn.

 

[A380]

....

To be honest I miss other things, and a couple of people, a bit more due to Covid than trains.

It's allowed to miss more than one thing, we aren't rationed...

 

[Flavour]

Always wanted to take train down to Avignon but it's pricey as feck and runs at some really odd times.

Avignon well worth a visit, it's really nice little city, easy to see everything you need to see on foot. There is a cracking little bar with cheap oysters near the square of Les Halles, the Pope's palace is enormous and there's a nice little independent cinema which also has a nice café. There are also vending machines which sell fish. Like, whole fish. Top stuff

 

[Winot]

We went to Avignon by train with 5 adults and 6 kids under 5. Unfortunately we went at May half term before the train ran directly London-Avignon and instead had to change at Lille. Bloody pain carrying kids/pushchairs (would be fine as adults).

 

[teuchter]

Eurostar rescue: expert says UK should demand trains in return for bailout cash

Exclusive: ‘The Man in Seat 61’ says move could lead to greater competition on Channel Tunnel rail link

www.independent.co.uk

“My plan, were I the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is to provide all the support Eurostar needs to survive – but in exchange for half-a-dozen e300 train sets.”
The e300 rolling stock comprises refurbished and upgraded trains originally built for Eurostar, The firm has 11 of them – along with 17 more modern e320 trains sets.
Each of the older 18-coach trains holds 750 passengers. Mr Smith proposes that they could either be leased back to Eurostar when traffic returns, or ”offered to a start-up operator”.

I have to say I'd be quite pleased to see Eurostar's monopoly ended on the route.

 

[Teaboy]

Eurostar rescue: expert says UK should demand trains in return for bailout cash

Exclusive: ‘The Man in Seat 61’ says move could lead to greater competition on Channel Tunnel rail link

www.independent.co.uk

I have to say I'd be quite pleased to see Eurostar's monopoly ended on the route.

What happened to DB's plans to start running services through the tunnel?

 

[teuchter]

What happened to DB's plans to start running services through the tunnel?

They abandoned them a couple of years back, unfortunately.

 

[agricola]

Always wanted to take train down to Avignon but it's pricey as feck and runs at some really odd times.

Not sure that staying on the Eurostar down there would be as comfortable as taking the Duplex down there is, though admittedly the walk from the Eurostar platform to the RER D platform at the Gare du Nord is always annoying.

 

[teuchter]

Not sure that staying on the Eurostar down there would be as comfortable as taking the Duplex down there is, though admittedly the walk from the Eurostar platform to the RER D platform at the Gare du Nord is always annoying.

It does really make things a lot easier if you don't have to change in Paris - and that's the sort of thing that puts off the kind of custom you're competing with the airlines for.

A change at Lille instead of Paris is a reasonable compromise.

 

[agricola]

It does really make things a lot easier if you don't have to change in Paris - and that's the sort of thing that puts off the kind of custom you're competing with the airlines for.

A change at Lille instead of Paris is a reasonable compromise.

I suppose, although I've flown down to Marseille before and although it was far quicker than Eurostar - change in Paris - TGV was (four hours from my front door to the old port, compared to about eight or nine on the train), I've still taken the train every time since. It is just a more enjoyable experience.

 

[A380]

We went to Avignon by train with 5 adults and 6 kids under 5. Unfortunately we went at May half term before the train ran directly London-Avignon and instead had to change at Lille. Bloody pain carrying kids/pushchairs (would be fine as adults).

It is ace. 15? Years ago ended up there after a holiday driving down to Sisteron over a week then 10 in sisterron. Got the old motor rail service Avignon Calais. About five pm dropped the car off at an out off town industrial estate with a siding. Got dropped off in a minibus in town. About 1100 got a train from Avignon central station that had a some old sleeper coaches and some car transporter trucks. Four of us so had a whole compartment to ourselves. Got off an an industrial estate on the edge of Calais about 8。 Fantastic way to travel, not madly expensive then. Hope it still exists.

 

[Crispy]

Fantastic way to travel, not madly expensive then. Hope it still exists.

Not to Calais any more

Guide to Motorail trains in Europe | Taking your car by train

A guide to European motorail trains, taking your car by train across Europe. Includes French Motorail from Calais to Nice, Narbonne, Toulouse, Brive & Avignon, Dutch motorail (Auto Slaap Trein) from Holland to Italy & the south of France, German Motorail (DB AutoZug) from Dusseldorf to Italy &...

www.seat61.com

 

[teuchter]

I suppose, although I've flown down to Marseille before and although it was far quicker than Eurostar - change in Paris - TGV was (four hours from my front door to the old port, compared to about eight or nine on the train), I've still taken the train every time since. It is just a more enjoyable experience.

For sure and that would be my preference too. But not everyone thinks like that. I actually think in many cases it's not the journey time but (perceived) complexity of the journey that puts people off going by train. They'll do the plane because it's one ticket end to end and all aspects of the process are familiar and predictable. It's so frustrating that Europe's various rail operators can't properly sort out a through ticketing system that competes with this. But back to the Paris connection, I do that quite a bit and often enjoy it as a break to the journey but for many people they'd just see it as stressful.

 

[Winot]

People like to take a lot of luggage too. Flying means they can drive both ends and never really have to carry it any distance.

 

[Flavour]

I love the way they've put Livorno on that map in Italy for seemingly no reason at all.

But actually I know the reason it probably is there. It's a ferry port to Corsica and Sardinia. Maybe there were motorail trains to Livorno in the past. Boh. Funny cos Genoa also has a lot of ferries but not on the map. Nor Naples. So funny.

 

[Artaxerxes]

I love the way they've put Livorno on that map in Italy for seemingly no reason at all.

But actually I know the reason it probably is there. It's a ferry port to Corsica and Sardinia. Maybe there were motorail trains to Livorno in the past. Boh. Funny cos Genoa also has a lot of ferries but not on the map. Nor Naples. So funny.

Livorno is a minor hub and gateway to the cinque terre region which has a metric fuckton of holiday goers, especially German and slightly more clued up yanks dodging the Amalfi coast.

 

[Flavour]

Cinque Terre very touristy yes, I took my Mum there once. The walks between the villages are nice, the villages themselves a bit Disneyland Italy. Yes, lots of Germans and Dutch and Brits. In general that bit of Italy heavily trafficked, also has Pisa and Lucca, both big tourist traps.

 

[Crispy]

But back to the Paris connection, I do that quite a bit and often enjoy it as a break to the journey but for many people they'd just see it as stressful.

Yep, I think it makes a big difference if you're travelling as a family. Sparrow and I crossed Paris for onward trains a few times back in the day, and it was fun seeing a bit of Paris, stop off for coffee or a meal , watch the world go by. But wouldn't dream of dragging a family of four and all their luggage through the same thing. We looked at the direct train to Provence, but the prices in the school holidays are just fuck you expensive.

 

[SpookyFrank]

It's not made up, the Yanks could have bought tickets in one of the many non-smoking carriages. But you'll be happy to learn I lost my glasses at the party and had to make my way back to Paris almost blind and then missed the return train to London and had to buy a new ticket; which is somewhere that Eurostar has always been shit, when you need to change a restricted ticket, or god forbid you miss a train, they accept no excuses and just hammer you for a brand new ticket, in a way that airlines just don't unless you're obnoxious to the ticket desk agent.

The one time I had to change a eurostar ticket I just phoned them up and asked if I could change it, at about 4am on the day of travel, to the following day. They said no problem, just tell the bloke at the desk in Paris. No charge.

When I got to Paris I explained this to the ticket bloke and after looking confused for a second he just scribbled in a new date and seat number on my ticket with a biro.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The one time I had to change a eurostar ticket I just phoned them up and asked if I could change it, at about 4am on the day of travel, to the following day. They said no problem, just tell the bloke at the desk in Paris. No charge.

When I got to Paris I explained this to the ticket bloke and after looking confused for a second he just scribbled in a new date and seat number on my ticket with a biro.

Of course they did.

 

[A380]

Yep, I think it makes a big difference if you're travelling as a family. Sparrow and I crossed Paris for onward trains a few times back in the day, and it was fun seeing a bit of Paris, stop off for coffee or a meal , watch the world go by. But wouldn't dream of dragging a family of four and all their luggage through the same thing. We looked at the direct train to Provence, but the prices in the school holidays are just fuck you expensive.

Did it a couple of times when the kids were small. We did just take just a taxi across the city rather than bags and kids in the metro. Back then the prices were comparable to EasyJet to get to Toulouse.

 

[A380]

.

 

[teuchter]

The best solution is usually just to change at Lille instead of Paris.

This often gives you more price options on the Eurostar leg too, because the trains that stop at Lille are a mixture of Paris and Brussels ones.

 

[A380]

The best solution is usually just to change at Lille instead of Paris.

This often gives you more price options on the Eurostar leg too, because the trains that stop at Lille are a mixture of Paris and Brussels ones.

Often you just wait on the same platform so it is quite easy. Also had a weekend in Lile itself once, surprisingly nice, a lot better than Ashford, and enough to keep you occupied for a long weekend, biggest gallery in France outside Paris and the old Paris Gare du Nord...

 

[teuchter]

Eurostar secures £250m rescue package

The cross-Channel rail operator has been fighting for survival during the pandemic as demand slumped.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[The39thStep]

Often you just wait on the same platform so it is quite easy. Also had a weekend in Lile itself once, surprisingly nice, a lot better than Ashford, and enough to keep you occupied for a long weekend, biggest gallery in France outside Paris and the old Paris Gare du Nord...

I spent a long weekend there when a friend of mine had tickets on Eurostar with Manchester returns but her daughter got german measle three days before they were due to go. She offered them to me for half price so I took my son. Had a great time museums, zoo , creperies, plenty of things to do, and some great bars selling both French and Belgium beer.