FEATURE: EUROSTAR
GETTING THE CONTINENTAL DRIFT
Eurostar was a much-heralded new service, but it has so far served only a limited number of destinations. Now that could be about to change – and not before time.
Words: Christian Wolmar
Sub Editor: Deborah Maby
E
urostar is coming of age. It will be 20 years old next year but for much of its history expansion has been stymied by a combination of complexity and timidity, which has meant that its real potential has so far not been realised. There are still far too few routes, given the potential of the high speed line and the Channel Tunnel, as well as the available rolling stock. Eurostar is very good at its basic task, which has been providing trains between London and two European capitals, Brussels and Paris, and now has close to 10 million passengers a year, nearly all on these two routes. It also runs trains aimed at holiday- makers to Disneyland, Bourg St Maurice for the French Alps and Avignon in the appropriate season. Overall, numbers of passengers have held up in the past year, with reduced numbers in business class being compensated for by leisure travellers. This year it has launched a couple
of new routes on a trial basis. Winter saw trains to Swiss Alpine towns such as Aigle, Martigny, Visp and Brig, which give access to a swathe of ski resorts, although the services do entail a change at Lille.
Then in the summer, trains will be
going directly to Lyon and Aix-en- Provence as well as Avignon. But therein lies a problem. While passengers on the outward journey to these new French destinations will be able to travel
20 RailCONNECT
all the way in the train without having to get off, on the way back they will be forced to disembark at Lille, go through Borders Agency procedures and get back on a train, a procedure that will take more than an hour. Clearly that will be a great deterrent, given that the journey between London and Avignon is already six hours long and people will in addition have to heave their suitcases on and off.
It is this type of issue that has stymied Eurostar’s growth. Because Britain is not in the Schengen agreement, border restrictions are tighter than in the rest of Europe. In the early days of Eurostar, passport checks were carried out on the train, but this was subsequently deemed too expensive by the Borders Agency. So now, oddly, passengers find themselves going through UK passport control at Brussels and Paris, only to have then to wait again to exit St Pancras as their passports are checked for a second time. Privately, Eurostar managers are furious at these restrictions, suggesting the Borders Agency has been particularly unco-operative as regards developing reasonable workable agreements that do not inconvenience passengers.
Another obstacle to further development of services from London to the Continent has been the difficulty of negotiating with the European rail operators. Organising through-ticketing arrangements has been a tortuous
For too long, Eurostar trains and the magnificent London terminus at St Pancras, have been under- utilised assets
process, and even now, two decades later, it is possible to buy through tickets only to a very limited number of European destinations. For many years there has been discussion of other destinations from London, such as Frankfurt, Cologne or Amsterdam, but nothing has ever materialised, even though the rolling stock is available. Now, though, this will have to change because of the prospect of competition on the horizon and the purchase of new rolling stock. Deutsche Bahn has expressed interest
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