MSE News: Eurostar launches direct London to...

Kite2010

I bet the number of £35 tickets in that tier will be a token tiny number, with the majority of tickets being sold for more. To allow them to advertise it as "Tickets from £35"

chattychappy

Kite2010 wrote: »

I bet the number of £35 tickets in that tier will be a token tiny number, with the majority of tickets being sold for more. To allow them to advertise it as "Tickets from £35"

Perhaps. But until they sort out immigration, I can see the trains travelling half empty. An inbound journey of about 4 hours where you have to change doesn't seem very attractive compared with flying.

I suppose it might work for people that actually need a single.

Mids_Costcutter

chattychappy wrote: »

Perhaps. But until they sort out immigration, I can see the trains travelling half empty. An inbound journey of about 4 hours where you have to change doesn't seem very attractive compared with flying.

I suppose it might work for people that actually need a single.

The fastest connections I've found for Amsterdam Centraal - London St Pancras changing at Brussels Midi are 4 hrs 46 mins. Allowing for longer check-in time for air travel, extra travel time from city centre to city centre and waiting for luggage, I reckon that should only mean a slightly longer travel time by rail: extra 15 - 30 mins. Outbound the new Eurostar services would be over an hour quicker and definitely competitive in terms of time with air.

I realise that this is a generalisation and comparison of travel times between air and rail will depend very much on where you live, even if it's within London. Of course some people won't want the hassle factor of changing trains even when it's at the same station and will then still choose direct services i.e. air.

Kite2010

chattychappy wrote: »

Perhaps. But until they sort out immigration, I can see the trains travelling half empty. An inbound journey of about 4 hours where you have to change doesn't seem very attractive compared with flying.

I suppose it might work for people that actually need a single.

Assuming that Eurostar will sell you a £35 single, as their common tactic is to limit the cheaper fares to returns (for example the £29 each way fares to Paris/Brussels are only available as part of a return fare, if you want just a single you pay extra).

chattychappy

Mids_Costcutter wrote: »

The fastest connections I've found for Amsterdam Centraal - London St Pancras changing at Brussels Midi are 4 hrs 46 mins. Allowing for longer check-in time for air travel, extra travel time from city centre to city centre and waiting for luggage, I reckon that should only mean a slightly longer travel time by rail: extra 15 - 30 mins. Outbound the new Eurostar services would be over an hour quicker and definitely competitive in terms of time with air.

I realise that this is a generalisation and comparison of travel times between air and rail will depend very much on where you live, even if it's within London. Of course some people won't want the hassle factor of changing trains even when it's at the same station and will then still choose direct services i.e. air.

Wow, longer than I thought, thanks for checking. As always "it depends". Unless your are in first, Eurostar demand you check-in at least 30mins before departure. I think airlines it's about an hour. (I've got away with 10mins on Eurostar and 30mins LHR long-haul..!) From my desk I can be at Gatwick departures in 30mins. I have to allow at least an hour to get to St P. For others the reverse may well be true - though there are more airports to choose from than Eurostar stations.

I've flown alot (low cost and otherwise) and Eurostarred (all classes). If you're in economy, I think I prefer the airlines. Because it's only actually when you're flying you're couped up - perhaps an hour or so within western Europe. The rest of the time you can be in airside cafes, departure lounges etc. On a long Eurostar if you've got kids kicking your seat or babies screaming, it's longer to endure. I also prefer airport waiting areas to the Eurostar waiting area under the tracks at St P or Gare du Nord (can't remember Brussels Midi at the moment). For premium travel, the Eurostar lounges are fine, but airport VIP lounges generally offer more in my experience. On the other hand, if you're in business you get longer to eat your meal on Eurostar than on short haul business. (But Eurostar food really has gone downhill IMHO, even if you're on the £500 return to Paris.) For this reason I miss the very civilised 3 hour ride from Waterloo to Paris. The best trip of all was New Year's Eve - there was some snow in Kent and it looked great. They served pheasant that day.

Kite2010 wrote: »

Assuming that Eurostar will sell you a £35 single, as their common tactic is to limit the cheaper fares to returns (for example the £29 each way fares to Paris/Brussels are only available as part of a return fare, if you want just a single you pay extra).

Quite true.

Rail_Staff

Doc_N wrote: »

I wonder what happened to the original plans to run straight through to the East Coast Main Line?

The large fleet of carriages were bought back by the builders at a large loss to Eurostar (taxpayers in other words) and eventually sold to ViaRail in Canada where they still work day in day out on routes from Montreal. The Eurostar regional units were purchased by SNCF and some are still in use in France.