[Anonymous]

[BigDog.]

Eurostar Operators are cogitating over extending their high speed connectivity to Bordeaux and maybe others.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3494673/London-Bordeaux-just-four-hours-Eurostar-considers-new-plans-superfast-travel-south-France.html

…Chief executive of Eurostar confirmed it was looking into route to Bordeaux
Journey could use the new £6.1bn high-speed track in the south of France
Comes as drop in passenger numbers is reported following terror attacks
Eurostar already connects Britain to Paris as well as Brussels and Lyon…

When they do run (as Eurostar does seem to beset with more than its fair share of disruption) what other destinations should they consider?

[AMcWhirter]

Hello BigDog Sadly it’s not “Britain.” One of Eurostar’s drawbacks is that it operates only from London and the South East.

Ambitious plans originally called for Eurostar to operate both day and night trains from the regions…but they never materialised.

And the new Siemens’ trains cannot cope with our restricted loading guage outside HS lines. The existing trains can cope but some are now past their prime and some sets may well be scrapped.

[SimonS1]

Unfortunately for Eurostar there are two big problems.

1. Outwards – they only run from London. Even living near Brighton with a non stop service to St Pancras it’s a pain, add in check in times etc and it’s easier/cheaper to head for Easyjet.

2. Inwards – the UK border control model means that unless travelling from Paris, Brussels and Lille people have to leave the train to undertake UK border checks in Lille. This can add an hour to the return journey together with baggage being lugged about. With the current migrant issues I can’t see any prospect of this being relaxed.

So I would say their business model has limited potential at this stage.

[AMcWhirter]

Besides St Pancras a few trains also stop at Ebbsfleet and Ashford.

The Lyon service continues to Marseille but as we reported a few months ago this service has been suspended for several weeks owing to lack of demand.

Geneva was another route covered by Eurostar/Lyria via Lille. But again the passenger numbers did not live up to expectations and the service was axed after one year.

Through Eurostar trains (initially twice daily) were originally set to start this coming December. But the launch date was recently put back to 2017. No definite date yet

[SimonS1]

Indeed Alex but for people outside of London, Ebbsfleet and Ashford are even more of a pain to get to than St Pancras.

Good luck to them but unless the UK joins Schengen (which is about as likely as BA starting scheduled services to the moon) they will always have an uphill struggle.

[MrMichael]

Eurostars business model was (all those years ago) based on a belief that we would by now have totally unrestricted travel around Europe, and competition of Airlines was around legacy carriers, not Loco’s. Through no fault of Eurostar that has not actually come to fruition, indeed it is likely that further controls will be introduced within Europe possibly effecting services more seriously than they currently are. For me Eurostar was a good alternative to getting to Paris from SW London when it went from Waterloo, now, much less attractive. As SimonS1 writes from Brighton, a huge area of the SE now finds Eurostar less attractive.

Without longer haul trains, with Sleepers, perhaps starting in Glasgow and or Manchester their whole UK based potential is compromised. However, I doubt they could compete with Ryanair/Easyjet or even the legacy carriers now. Flights in real terms are cheaper now then ever (even with APD).

Sell.

[Charles-P]

I was once a regular with Eurostar but their pricing policy has become increasingly Byzantine and as such I now prefer to use the Antwerp – London City flight which is generally a lower cost and puts me at the heart of London rather than out at Kings Cross plus I avoid the increasingly appalling Brussels Main station which is rapidly becoming a cross between a doss house and a pickpocket’s paradise.

[Henryp1]

It’s a shame it used to be such a pleasant alternative to flights, the Paris terminal is also rather intimidating at times.

[NTarrant]

Mr Michael is probably right that boarders within Europe will become tighter than they were in the days when boarder staff went through the train stamping passports.

I can’t say I enjoyed my last experience on Eurostar from Brussels when our seats were changed due to an alleged problem in the coach we were booked in. We ended up with aisle facing and back as opposed to the airline style we had booked. Further annoyance was to find that there wasn’t any issue with the coach we were originally booked and people wee in our seats!

[Author]

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