Eurostar – A few passenger comments since the fire

Thurs 6th Oct
“The early train from Ebbsfleet to Brussels has been dropped. It will speed through from St Pancras since, they tell me, there is no slot through the tunnel available. This now means that most people will only arrive at their office/meeting in Brussels at 11.00 in the morning, which is hopeless and will certainly force me to have to fly in some cases”.

Comment: - the other explanation offered was that it was essential that people arrived in Brussels by 9.00am.
Last year, Richard Brown said that 0.9% of passenger volume was lost per minute added. As journey times are now roughly 20 minutes longer has Eurostar lost nearly 20% of its non-stop city-centre to city-centre passengers? If not, then was this just another excuse put forward for not stopping at Ashford?

Friday 3rd Oct
“We will take you from Ashford to Lille but we won’t bring you back again!” - hitting new bookers in the face for the next 6 months.

Sun 5th Oct
“Have tried to make some “test bookings” from Ashford to Lille (morning) returning the following evening. On every occasion the computer says there are no trains to meet my request. Unless this nonsense can be stopped most travellers will simply assume that the Ashford – Lille - BXL service no longer operates and will travel by other means. Then, of course, Eurostar will tell us that there is no demand for such a service”.

Mon 6th Oct
“The Nine o’clock train from Brussels stopped in Ashford last Friday night, but it was sheer chaos at MIDI from five o’clock onwards; people were not getting on their right trains because of the queues going out the door of the station. Fortunately for me I flew back from Dublin last night so probably avoided any trouble because of the industrial action”.

Comment: - “…fortunately I arrived at Midi from the UK and did not have to join the hundreds of poor people trying to get back that Friday night. I am not sure that Eurostar had worked out that the five or six staff in Brussels (I have never seen more than that at any one time) just could not cope with 750 passengers as easily as 20+ in St.Pancras”.

KM Kent Business – October
George Ward went off to Gstaad to stay in a luxury hotel. His return rail journey - via Ebbsfleet - was somewhat less luxurious. The scheduled National Express service did not materialise at Ebbsfleet. The office was closed. He had to take a taxi home to Sandwich arriving at 1.30am and £100 poorer.

14th Oct
Response from Eurostar.
I have had a look at the emergency timetable and unfortunately the only service from Lille-Ashford departs Mondays-Fridays at 10:16 and arrives at 10:45.
Comment: - If you had paid a fortune for a Disneyland Resort visit of a lifetime, would you be happy to lose a whole day there?

Tues 21st Oct
Lille passenger: - “the only way I can do my job now is to get a single to Ashford in the morning and a single back from Ebbsfleet the following afternoon - this is very, very expensive. There is no other way to get to Canterbury in time in the morning or get back to Lille at night”.

Tues 21st Oct
“Well, the information available in the weeks after the fire certainly wasn’t consistent or reliable. The time I travelled I was told to be there two hours early to have a chance of getting a place (my train having been cancelled). It then turned out I was too early even to book in. And after that I was unable to buy a return ticket on a Sunday afternoon although two trains were shown on the timetables as running. I wrote to Eurostar “customer care” about it and got a completely off-the point answer 9 days later. Luckily tickets are now available for sale again, but last time I travelled I had to go from St.Pancras”.

Comment: - I travelled ten days after the fire. I too was told to clock in at least two hours early. Some people had been there for more than three. There was no extra seating and many were sprawled on the floor making movement even more difficult. Fortunately I managed to get on to a space on the computer counter. Queues for refreshments were too long to contemplate. It was a great relief to be called to the train. My journey to Brussels from Ashford that day took 8½. At least that has come down to only 6½. It would certainly be as quick and have fewer changes to travel from York!