“That’ll teach you to bomb Iraq,” announced the French official at Lille Europe station, as he grudgingly switched the escalator from up to down to allow the weary British travellers to descend to the platform.
He didn’t say anything of the sort, of course. But the mixture of pride and contempt in his voice as he said “the service is exactly 18 minutes late” was anything but apologetic.
His attitude only served to confirm the impression of Eurostar I built up during my brief encounter with the company. Their task seemed simple: to transport my family and me from Ashford in Kent to Lille so that we could transfer to a TGV service to Disneyland Paris, and to do the reverse three days later on our return.
That this experience managed to combine delays, malfunctions, inconvenience and questionable customer care does not bode well for a company which is marketing itself as an alternative to air travel.
For, if you believe Eurostar’s advertising, you can now “Fly Eurostar” to Paris, Brussels, Lille, Disneyland, The Alps and Avignon. They base this claim on the fact that the first section of the Channel Tunnel rail link opened on 16 September 2003. Allowing speeds of up to 186 mph, this new track shaves 20 minutes off the journey to and from London and offers, according to their website “increased reliability.”
To which I can only say “Hah!” The train we eventually caught from Ashford International arrived 36 minutes late.
We had arrived well ahead of the 40 minutes before departure which the company advises, using the station car park at Ashford. The car parks are easy to find and well signposted: the station is close to the town centre and not difficult to locate, even if you’re unfamiliar with the roads. There’s a choice of surface and multi-storey car parks – but be prepared to pay up to £9 a day for the privilege - stays of five days or longer do work out cheaper per day. The fifth floor of the multistorey is on the same level as the check-in area.
To further speed your check-in, Eurostar offer a “Ticket Direct” service. Just enter your booking reference and these machines, next to the check-in gates, print out your tickets. When we arrived, one of the two machines was out of order. After putting my details and credit card into the other and confirmed my identity, the machine then told me that it could not print out my tickets and to go to the desk down in the booking hall.
There, after queuing, I underwent a gruelling session in which the assistant insisted repeatedly that our tickets had been cancelled, and could not be issued. Eventually, it transpired that this was simply because the Ticket Direct machine had not transmitted its error to the computer. The assistant’s attitude implied that she thought this was all my fault.
Once through the check-in (you can do this by feeding your ticket into an automatic barrier or by going to a counter), the Customs and passport check was speedy, assisted by very helpful and friendly staff. (as opposed to the surly and monosyllabic demeanour of staff at Lille on our return journey).
The departure lounge at Ashford is spacious and comfortable. Well-spaced plastic seats give you plenty of room to sit with your luggage trolley. Display screens and announcements are clear and informative. There’s a bar, a café, a shop and clean, spacious toilets. Escalators (which can carry your trolley) and lifts take you down to the platform.
Once on the train, seat numbers are clearly marked, and there’s luggage space at the end of each coach. Overhead storage is limited. You won’t get a normal suitcase in the overhead racks - although there is enough room for this on the French TGV trains. The aisles are narrow, causing great difficulty when passengers are trying to squeeze on with bags and look for their seats. The colour scheme is a rather tiring yellow and gray and, on the return train at least, the seats were distinctly worn and grubby.
The London-Brussels service which we were on had helpful staff who made clear, informative multilingual announcements (even telling us we were about the enter the Channel Tunnel) and walked through the train to help people who were missing connections due to the delay. This was again different on the return journey, where announcements were unintelligible and minimal, and no staff ever appeared in person.
The 18-coach trains are quiet and ride is very smooth; there is a refreshment car (although I didn’t sample its wares). Wheelchair users can travel in their own wheelchairs in a special part of the train. One travelling companion can accompany you at a reduced rate. Eurostar allow guide dogs (but no other animals) on the trains.
Fortunately, we did not miss our connection at Lille, and the TGV leg of our journey was swift and efficient (although it left 15 minutes late).
Arriving back at Lille three days later, our weariness was not helped by the minimal information, inaudible announcements and the aforementioned 18 minute delay.
Everything about Lille’s Eurostar departure area (I hesitate to use the word ‘lounge’) seems hostile to travellers: the information monitors are usually blank; the toilets are single-user; the seats are narrow, cold metal, and the refreshments (from a single, malfunctioning machine) grudging. If I didn’t know better, I’d start to think that this was a deliberate French ruse to annoy what must be, in the main, a British clientele, many of whom are travelling from the hated American Disney resort.
Eurostar do several special gift offers - such as £75 return trips to Paris (£65 to Lille). As their standard return from London to Paris starts at £59 (going up to £169), these aren’t necessarily a bargain. If you’re really flush, you can pay up to £500 for a Business First Class return to Paris.
By comparison, Easyjet prices for Paris, if you book ahead, start at around £40 return (plus taxes etc). We had wanted to travel direct from Ashford to Marne la Valée (Disneyland) but, even two months ahead, no seats were left on the daily direct service.
Trains leave Waterloo about every hour for Paris, and every two hours to Brussels. And there’s a lot to be said for the potential convenience of the service compared to the hassle of air travel. Eurostar may be getting up to speed, but they’ll have to streamline their customer care if they want to compete with the airlines.
More details
Speed of trains
Very fast
Safety of trains
Very safe
How extensive is their Rail Network?
Average
How well does it cater for disabled people?
Satisfactorily
Ticketing System
Good
Value for Money
Satisfactory
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