So apparently this morning Ségolène Royal, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, has announced that security gates will be built to access Thalys trains: https://twitter.com/jul_mm/status/669058150729957377 De Telegraaf interprets this as meaning bag scanners, going further than La Voix du Nord does (although their story also says the gates (portiques) […]
United Kingdom
The future of channel tunnel long distance passenger railway services
A small step forward step in the prospect of long distance high-speed train services using the channel tunnel was taken this week, with Deutsche Bahn granted a ‘Certificate B’ to operate trains through the tunnel. This has been a long time coming – in 2010 DB was talking of running […]
The Lille Loophole – stop London checks on all except 3 trains
What is the Lille Loophole? It is a means by which people without the correct identification papers necessary to enter the UK can do so thanks to a loophole in the Schengen rules, as applied at Gare du Midi in Brussels, and to the Eurostar rail service. News about the […]
A little Brussels-London security paranoia case study – this coming Friday
I have not taken Eurostar recently, but judging by comments posted on my previous blog posts about the service, it seems that the security paranoia that afflicts the route has not diminished. Anyway, for the first time in months, I am going to be on Eurostar on Friday this week, […]
How to consistently get London-Brussels or Brussels-London Eurostar tickets for €49 single
NOTE: this system has been replaced in 2022 with a new “De Connect” ticket. You can find out how that works in this new post! I’m a regular traveller on Eurostar, and I often travel onwards from Brussels to Germany by train, so much in fact that I am used […]
Eurostar rebrands – suppose I’ll get used to it
So my favourite rail service – Eurostar – is being rebranded. The old E* logo, in use from the start of the service in the mid-1990s, is to be replaced with a silver 3D logo, dark blue background and a yellow caps sans serif font. There is also an adaption […]