Although it was not picked up by the National Media it was published in full in the December issues of Modern Railways, Todays Railways-Europe and Railwatch. Later on, in early February another fortnightly publication called Rail covered the topic in 3 separate articles in the same edition, including one by Christian Woolmar in his regular column. These articles all explained how and why Eurostar could not charge lower fares, nor run any extra services and could not even run a full train due to the extra time needed for post-brexit border controls.

After effectively ignoring the problem the UK Government might now finally be responding, as Mark Harper the UK Transport Secretary recently had a meeting in Paris with the French Transport Minister and the Chief Executive of Eurostar. It was reported that they discussed the need to “address border-related challenges, prevent lengthy queues at the terminals “ and “to support and secure the future growth and success of the international rail sector”. It was also reported that he reaffirmed the UK Government’s commitment to working with the French Government to ensuring any border control systems work for both countries and international passengers.

Let’s hope that his words can be translated into action – in the meantime we shall be campaigning for better onward connections with Eurostar at Brussels.

And finally, you can now take your bike again on Eurostar, though it is not that cheap and the arrangements are a bit complicated. Further information at:- https://www.cyclinguk.org/article/eurostar-re-opens-cycle-carriage-service#msdynttrid=zff9ZljBGw394dc05XiRNXSSpqgRbbpMki6kTkgCn_g

 On January 13th the European Passengers’ Federation (of which ERC(UK) is an associate member) marked its 20th birthday with a special event at the European Parliament in Brussels.

ERC(UK) and the German association PROBAHN helped sponsor the event, and two of our members attended along with 35 other colleagues from Continental public transport users’ associations, lobbyists and decision-makers. 

The event was hosted by Irish MEP Ciaran Cuffe and speakers included representatives of the Community of European Railways, ALLRAIL plus train campaigner and blogger Jon Worth.  

Topics covered in the presentations and discussion embraced cross-border services and passenger rights.  

For a full report see: http://www.epf.eu/wp/epf-celebrates-turning-20/

TO EUROPE BY RAIL/SEA/RAIL

One of the few convenient links to Europe by sea is the twice daily Stena Line service from Harwich to Hook van Hollande. While in the UK the ship connects directly into the UK rail network at Harwich, passengers arriving at Hook van Hollande have to buy a separate Metro Card for the Rotterdam area Metro service before connecting into the Dutch rail network.

In conjunction with our Dutch colleagues, we asked if they could sell the cards on board the ship to save passengers having to queue for the ticket machine on the platform. Stena Line are not yet willing to sell metro cards on board the vessel but have now set up a link (in English) explaining how these can be bought on the ferry using an app. They have also agreed to include this information in e-mails sent in advance to customers making a booking. For further information please see: –

https://www.ret.nl/home/reizen/stenaline.html

BIKES ON EUROSTAR

The cyclists’ organisation Cycling UK has been pressing Eurostar to allow cyclists again to carry their bikes on its trains.  For now, they have re-introduced this only for the London – Paris service, subject to space being available for large items of luggage.  Intending passengers must first book their Eurostar ticket and then contact the operator to book a space for their bike.

We obviously hope that these arrangements will be extended for the Brussels and Amsterdam services in due course.