Ashford To Get A Signalling Update
This story from Global Rail News about the updating of the signalling at Ashford to allow Eurostar’s new e320 trains to stop at the station, is about a project that is one of whole host of small projects that probably should be done to keep our railways up to scratch.
Big projects like Thameslink, Crossrail and the Northern Hub, may seem to get all the headlines and money, but often smaller projects are very important to the smooth running of trains and trhe maintenance of existing services.
Sunrise On A Eurostar to Paris
I took these pictures as the Eurostar sped to Paris through the countryside.
So try to book a ticket in a window seat on the left hand side of the train.
In fact always book on that side if you want the sun as coming home you’ll get the sunset.
An Awayday In Paris
I decided at the weekend, that after the terrible events in Paris and a day in London with a bus strike, that it would be an ideal day to take Eurostar to the French capital.
I caught the first train out at 05:40 and it was a mistake in one way. I couldn’t buy a paper to take with me on the journey. At least the taxi got me there in time and on the train, I got a double seat in Standard Class, which meant that I had plenty of space to spread out and it didn’t matter, if I made any mess with my sandwiches.
In the morning, I immediately went up the funicular to Sacre Coeur as I always do to and then I rode the Metro in the sun before exploring around Stalingrad.
I then went to the Place de la Republic to see the Charlie Hebdo tributes.
I then attempted to find an hour long river cruise, but no boat appeared to be running because of flooding of the Seine in the last few days.
So I walked to the Musee d’Orsay, which is one of the few attractions to open on a Tuesday.
Then it all stared to go pear-shaped with lots of heavy rain.
I also had trouble finding any of my favourite restaurants that was open, so ate a good steak and chips in a cafe by the Gare du Nord before catching the 21:13 back to London.
An Advantage Of Eurostar’s New Trains
I’ve stood on the unwelcoming platforms at Stratford International station waiting to catch a fast train to Kent, as Eurostar’s trains thunder by on their way to Europe.
The current Class 373 trains are not the quietest, to say the least.
This morning, Nicola Shaw, the boss of HS1, said on BBC Breakfast, that the new e320 or Class 374 trains are a lot quieter.
So at least twenty years of development has brought another advantage, to those living along the route.
Hopefully, the trains for HS2 will be even quieter.
Do You Like It, Sir John?
Eurostar showed off their new e320 train this morning and the celebration was in full swing, when I popped into the St. Pancras station for a cup of tea.
I wasn’t the only person with a camera, who took photos from behind Sir John Betjeman. So expect this image in the papers!
London To Geneva Has Just Got Easier
I like Geneva, as did my father, who actually lived there for a time. I’ve flown once recently when I went to CERN and I’ve also returned by train.
The train journey via Paris can be a bit tedious, as you have to get across Paris, which often isn’t the easiest thing to do.
But now according to Modern Railways, Eurostar are offering a service four days a week, with a simpler change at Lille. Here’s what they say.
The service will be available on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays. Departure from London St Pancras International at 12.58 will allow passengers to arrive in Geneva at 20.16 (local time) with a 37-minute connection at Lille. The return departure from Geneva will be at 08.30, with a 33-minute connection at Lille leading to an arrival at St Pancras at 14.05. On Sundays the return departure runs exactly two hours later, with a slightly longer connection at Lille but the same overall journey time to St Pancras. Tickets can be purchased from Thursday 9 October with return fares starting from £116.
That sounds like a relaxed way to do the trip.
For one of my Home Runs, the 08:30 departure from Geneva would be ideal, as Geneva is a good place to spend a relaxed night, after racing across Europe on umpteen trains.
European Train Booking Is Going Backwards
I am only a simple man, but I do know what computer software can do. And often it’s very complicated and works well!
In this post, I describe how I meandered all the way from East London to Yeovil using several trains. What complicated things was that I wanted to go via Littlehampton to see a Thomas Heatherwick-designed cafe. But I ended up with a complicated route from National Rail’s web site and I bought the tickets without difficulty.
So you’d think that if we navigate round our maze of lines in the South of England, then buying a ticket to most major cities in Europe should be a single transaction.
With Paris and Brussels it’s easy, if you go to the Eurostar web site and you just pick your train, pay your fee and then print the ticket.
I have a friend, who I see regularly, who lives near Lausanne. It’s a seven hour journey with a seventy minute change in Paris, so it’s not a short journey, but buying a ticket on Eurostar is as easy as buying one for Paris. Eurostar’s web site, also tells you how to get across Paris.
It’s pretty easy too, to buy a walk-up ticket for Paris in say Geneva and I’ve done it a couple of times.
As it’s a long journey back to Blighty, I usually give myself a couple of hours in Paris to have a good lunch or dinner before taking the Eurostar home. No-one in London, makes crepes like Cafe Breizh
But basically, getting to and from Switzerland by train, is as easy as going say from London to Inverness.
Let’s suppose that you want to go somewhere closer than Switzerland, like The Hague. Obviously, as Switzerland isn’t in the EU and The Hague is, you’d think that the Dutch capital would be the easier journey to book.
But whereas you can book to most large Swiss cities,you can’t book to The Hague.
A few years back, I booked a Eurostar ticket to Any Dutch Station. But this was discontinued!
Now you have to buy a ticket to Rotterdam and then fight your way through the Dutch ticketing system to get to The Hague. Five years ago it was much better.
Buying tickets to places like Berlin and Munich, is not much better either.
If the French, Belgians and the Swiss can get it right and probably up to the same standard as our system, why can’t Dutch and the Germans? The Dutch were even more integrated five years ago!
I’m sure if the best of the British, French and the Swiss had been put in charge of developing a full system for Europe, you’d be able to login to Eurostar, type in any station in Europe and get given a choice of routes, for you to select one.
No wonder the management of the EU is in such a mess!
Will St.Pancras Cope With More Trains On Thameslink And Eurostar?
This lunchtime I walked through St. Pancras station from the entrance by Kings Cross station on Euston Road, through the Underground ticket hall and the shopping mall past the Eurostar Entrance and exit to get a train on Thameslink.
It is a long walk, but if you want to catch Thameslink after arriving in the area on a 30 bus, it’s the shortest way. When Thameslink had a station on the Pentonville Road it was just a short walk through the passages at the bus stop direct to the Thameslink platforms.
What made matters worse was that a Eurostar train had just arrived and the ticket hall and shopping mall were teeming with passengers and masses of luggage. After all it was Friday and the time was about that, where early morning trains from Paris and Brussels will arrive.
The Thameslink station wasn’t busy, but at this time there are only about half-a-dozen trains an hour each way through the station.
But in 2018, there will be twenty four trains an hour each way for a lot of the day.
As by then, Eurostar or other operators should be running to Amsterdam and Cologne, these will be delivering a whole lot more passengers into the station.
So I can’t help feeling that St. Pancras will be an incredibly crowded station.
I’m probably lucky in that I can pick up Thameslink at London Bridge by using a 141 bus or perhaps at Farringdon using a 56.
If the Thameslink station had been built as an island station with escalators at more than one place, the problems would have been mitigated, as I said in this post. I won’t withdraw my concluding paragraph in that post yet.
St. Pancras is very much a fur coat and no knickers station!
Show on top and draughty and lacking at the bottom!
It’s up to Thameslink and Network Rail to convince me to do so.
Is This The Most Unwelcoming Station In The UK?
To get to Margate, I’d bought a Senior Off Peak Standard Class Ticket from Stratford International station to Margate.
As I got to the station a few minutes early, I had to wait for nearly twenty minutes on a draughty platform, with only a little sun filtering into the cutting of the station.
To make matters worse, a couple of Eurostar trains thundered through and frightened the daylights out of me!
It certainly isn’t my favourite station and next time I catch a train there, I’ll wait upstairs until the last minute. Or go from St. Pancras!
Gluten Free Ready Meals On Eurostar
On the Eurostar from Paris, I was very hungry. I had thought that there was no gluten-free food was available, but late in the journey on reading their on-board magazine, I found that they had two Waitrose ready meals in the cafe-bar.
They were not labelled as gluten-free, but was this an omission?
Mushroom Risotto is here on the Waitrose web site, where it is labelled as suitable for those avoiding gluten. The Chicken tikka masala shown here is also labelled as such.
It strikes me, that Eurostar are making a mistake somewhere.
The Anonymous Widower 