Two main drivers of the high prices right now are:
You can probably count on one hand the number of people per month who use rail end to end for Wales to Southern France. As has been established in other threads, none of the government bodies or rail operators concerned have the slightest interest in carrying anyone so far because it comes with enormous risk of liability from missed connections, and the yields achievable from such passengers are much lower than can be achieved from filling exactly the same seat, at exactly the same operating cost, as someone making a Cardiff - London, London - Paris or Paris - Marsellie journey.
It partly depends on whether the luggage scan would still take place - if it was, Checkin would still be 45 mins or so before departure. If it was completely unchecked than checkin could easily be 15-20 minutes before departure, which knocks nearly an hour off the time needed for starters.
The Disney service called only at Marne-le-vallee, no? Maybe it didn't go for the check-in times but it was not serving Paris at the same time.
It's a market that's cropped up a few times. 'Very strongly' might have been overegging it after a few reporters got wind of it, but as a market it's not unimaginable. Whether it'd be economic with the border regime in force is another question.
Yes, people overlook that Airlines generally don't have maintenance costs for their jetways, only the fees for the Airport. Whereas trains need the tracks maintaining all the way.
It depends how they do it, I was assuming the channel tunnel fire evacuation regulations would still require a regulated passenger count, and that Eurostar would still want mandatory reservations. I'm more envisaging a person checking tickets at the ramp up to the platform rather than a holding pen, a bit like Ouigo do. Although today with apps and e-tickets it's easy to see walk-on boarding being part of Eurostar if the border etc wasn't a problem.
The price I looked at was purely St Pancras to Marseille, a service I used to find direct for £200ish return. Now it's not direct it's more expensive and as mentioned uses inOui not OuiGo which is an issue when pricing it.
Again at no point was I mentioning price from South Wales other than adding it in as a separate cost.
They may not, presumably there are other methods to ensure the evacuation can be safely carried out according to the plans, and verify that it has been so if required.
Indeed - as I acknowledge at the end of that point.
Could some of them start at Calais Fretun? A parkway station within Schengen, or even a partner company coach service?
It would be a benefit for you if the south of france services return, that is for sure!
We were looking at a trip later this year and initial view was that for booking a Eurostar/SNCF journey you are better off booking the whole trip through SNCF where its a combined Eurostar/SNCF journey, changing at Lille
Really? I can see a certain logic in it, but it massively disincentives any operator to move too far ahead of any other. That's a fascinating structure.
You do yourself a disservice! I thought the access charges for HS1 were based on time spent occupying the network, but I guess like all these things it's a mix of lots of methods.
It makes more sense for stations with 3/4 franchised operators, as they're less likely to drop calls purely to try and weasel out of a rubbish collection fee or their share of the electricity bill.
at St. Pancras primarily, for security and passport checks
also, unlike airlines, if your ferry is cancelled there’s currently no requirement for the operator to provide you with overnight accommodation or meals etc. if you have to wait for the seas to calm. I discovered this a couple of years back when I rolled into Bilbao late in the evening in an estate car filled with half my possessions. Finding an Airbnb with secure parking at 9pm in a country where you don’t speak the language wasn‘t particularly easy…
Automatic passenger counting using CCTV cameras has been a thing for a while.
Did they not just let you take your cabins on the ship, and wait until the conditions were right before setting off?
There is only a french border official when departing St Pancras. The check before is a eurostar contractor, who is collecting "advance passenger information" for the UK government
I've never been delayed by the 2 checks, everybody's held up by the same amount so the impact on throughput is marginal. Also you then would need the Home office to approve French PAF controlling UK borders, and I cannot imagine the level of huffing over the Daily Telegraph such a change would provoke on Pall Mall. I also don't see the French being overly keen to trust the Brits with their borders, especially now we've left the EU.
that was the aim via my idea, rather than 2 checks have 1 and twice as many lanes as a result
The chances of HMG allowing a foreign police force free access to sensitive UK eyes only data is nil..... Not to mention the data protection laws that would doubtless be violated.....
But the way the "exit" checks are set out is in sequence, not in parallel. All your suggestion does is move the queue hold slightly further up. And, as mentioned, The Home Office are never going to hand control of entry to the UK to *the French*.
