Eurostar Paris Nord Delays

martindow

Does anyone have any experience of the delays at the Gare du Nord? There is a greve du zele where customs people are checking everything in detail and causing long delays.


I'm off to Paris this weekend and returning next Wednesday late afternoon. I assume that there will be no problem arriving in Paris as French checks are carried out at St Pancras, but there could be problems on the return. Some of the news reports suggest massive delays but I suspect that makes for good headlines and is not typical.


Comments from any recent passengers would be much appreciated.

martindow

There is talk of six hour delays in the papers yet trains seem to be leaving on time. I assume that they are just loading passengers onto trains on a first come first served basis regardless of their booked train.



I wonder if I could arrive a bit earlier than I normally would to try to get to London at a reasonable hour or maybe I would be turned away if I tried to get in more than a couple of hours before the departure of my train?

sheramber

https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/disruption_hub

martindow

An update on this now I'm back. The delays seem very variable.

A friend came back on Monday morning and queued for three hours. As they had arrived at the station an hour before the departure their train was long gone but, along with other people in the same situation, they were rebooked on the next train.

We came back on Wednesday afternoon and queued for only 45 minutes so walked through the departure lounge straight onto our booked train. The people opposite us had tickets for the previous train which they had missed after waiting 90 minutes to get through customs.

Eurostar are now saying delays will continue until 3rd April but according to the French press it appears to be open-ended until Brexit is resolved(!)

Good luck to anyone coming back - prepare for several hours delay and possibly get through faster. Don't worry if you miss your train as Eurostar seem well practised rebooking passengers.