20 October 2008

Eurostar and TGV transform travel from the UK into Europe

Who would have thought not so long ago that the completion of what was then called the Ã¢â¬ÅâœChunnelÃ¢â¬~, would so transform travel between the UK and Europe?

Well, the transformation and impact has been so great that flying between the UK and anywhere in Northern France or Belgium is now pretty pointless as the unbelievably fast Eurostar now means it makes much more sense to go by train.

The Mole on location in Europe needed to get from London to Marseilles and virtually every trawl of the information available said that the best way to do it was to go by train. Only few years ago it would have been go by air!

So, it was with a certain sense of adventure and excitement tinged with sadness, that the Mole dropped off the superb Vroom, Vroom, Vroom Volvo diesel station wagon [Pictured right] - check out www.vroomvroomvroom.com.au near to the fabulously restored LondonÃ¢â¬â¢s St Pancras Station [pictured below] and went to check in for a Eurostar train to Lille and TGV on to Marseilles.

You can buy your Eurostar and TGV tickets before you leave home through Rail Plus and it is recommended to do so as these trains get pretty full, especially around weekends and holidays and also you will be paying in $A.

While most passengers travel in the Eurostar equivalent of economy, called Standard and described as great value travel, if you want to push the boat out a little, you can travel in Leisure Select which is described as onboard indulgence and finally for the Business traveller, Business Premier.

Standard is a no fuss maximum value for money, way to travel, but you will not be sacrificing comfort as the seats in all classes are excellent.

With Leisure Select you get exclusive carriages offer spacious, comfortable seating and what they describe as "at seat" wining and dining, the ultimate onboard indulgence with a very good breakfast indeed, served right at our seats Ã¢â¬' airline style! With Leisure Select you also get 30 minute check in, newspapers and magazines and a bit more space to stretch out.

On thing I noticed in all classes that the room for cases is very inadequate, which is perhaps why they tell you that you can take only one case, but even then there were cases piled into the corridors.

Business Premier is really aimed at business travellers and has really taken over from the airlines, offering fast-track check-in London, Paris and Brussels, sadly a rather average business lounge in St Pancras, [Pictured right] but it did offer complimentary wirless internet access giving the opportunity to check those pesky emails.

It is on board though when it all really clicks in with dedicated Business Premier carriages, UK and European compatible power sockets at your seat, three-course meals, served at your seat, flexible tickets, newspapers and magazines on-board and optional chauffeur service transfer, at additional cost, to and from the station, for each leg of the journey.

The price differential is quite large though and for example one sample set of fares I found on line between London and Paris, which only takes 2hrs and 52 minutes, since the UK completed the high speed rail link right into London were:

Standard Ã¢â¬' non flexible - Ã¢'š~¬54.00

Standard - semi flexible - Ã¢'š~¬130.00

Standard - fully flexible - Ã¢'š~¬204.00

Leisure Select Ã¢â¬' non flexible - Ã¢'š~¬95.00

Leisure Select Ã¢â¬' semi flexible - Ã¢'š~¬166.00

Leisure Select Ã¢â¬' fully flexible - Ã¢'š~¬290.00

Business Premier Ã¢â¬' fully flexible - $297.00

[Pictured above Eurostar trains in St Pancras]

So, if you plan ahead and do not need or want any flexibility then you can save heaps and also as I say Rail Plus fares are in $A.

So, what about the journey itself? It was awesome and a train buff's dream!

The only real gripes I had were that the Eurostar boarding area in the stunning St Pancras Station is a bit of a shambles, [left] with it not being very clear where to go and lots of pushing and shoving .....it needs looking at.

The transfer in Lille is also very confusing with no indication of which platform, the TGV goes from, until just before it arrives and in Marseilles station they have made the very strange decision indeed, to do away with trolleys and they do not have porters either Ã¢â¬' I managed to get two very kind train cleaners to help me!

Putting those minor issues aside, the departure out of London St Pancras was smooth and quiet and in no time we were hurtling along with a new stop at Ebsfleet International, a new station somewhere I think in Kent, between London and the tunnel itself.

I was disappointed that there was no announcement when we went into the tunnel, but I am sure that regular travellers were fed up of hearing it, but the Eurostar fair hurtles along, very smoothly indeed, with the journey to Lille taking less than two hours traversing under the English Channel, which the French call La Manche, the sleeve.

The food was great, the seats very comfortable, [pictured left] but as I say not enough room for cases.

The smoothness of this part of the journey was replicated by the TGV journey from Lille to Marseilles, which only takes five hours, quite amazing!

No sense of speed at all, but we were clearly going very quickly, with very comfortable seats and a good quality buffet service in a nearby carriage.

Both the Eurostar and TGV get up to speeds of 300 kilometres per hour or 186 miles per hour so they are no rail slouches!

So, now to the hard question..........would The Mole recommend Eurostar and TGV?

[The TGV arrives in Lille - pictured right]

Without question, yes....Eurostar is a highly impressive and extremely efficient way to travel from the UK to Europe and the TGV is an equally impressive way to travel around parts of Europe.

I canÃ¢â¬â¢t wait to do it all over again...it just went by too quickly!

A report by the Mole on location in Europe.