Swiss Railways train in Zurich Station
Aregos Station on the Douro Line in Portugal
Austrian RailJet on the Semmering Pass
International train starts the climb up to the Arlberg Tunnel
Eurostar arrives at Albertville
Palaeofarsalos Station in Central Greece. See Travellers Tales “Into Albania and onto Greece”
The European Railway Timetable produce a stunning map of all the railways of Europe.
Intercity train Jihlava to Brno preparing to depart
Many European Train Operators have recently announced free train travel for all Ukrainians seeking asylum in The EU. We therefore call on the UK Government, Scottish Government, Welsh & Northern Ireland Assemblies and Eurostar to do the same until further notice for all Ukrainians seeking asylum in the UK.
At last – Eurostar our only direct rail link to Europe is now running more frequent services, even if the fares on offer are not as cheap as before the pandemic. There are now around 10 services/daily to Paris, 3-4 to Brussels & Lille and 2 to Amsterdam. Ideally there should be an hourly service to Paris and at least one train every 2 hours to Brussels to make it easy to connect into other services to/from Paris & Brussels. We now look forward to Eurostar restoring services at Ashford International.
For many years Brussels has been the best place to make easy daytime connections from Eurostar into Germany & beyond. The Belgian Government have recently announced they will be spending up to 2 million Euros, to see how Brussels can be used to accommodate the growing number of night trains planned in the next few years. For further information see: https://www.bruzz.be/mobiliteit/twee-miljoen-voor-uitbouw-van-brussel-als-nachttreinhub-2021-10-14
Our campaign got more publicity this month in the letters page of Rail Magazine – here is the text of our letter which was printed in full: The special report from HS1 Ltd published in Rail 938 could be seen as a load of “Greenwash”. They publish a lot of sustainability statistics for 2020-21 which look good on paper but do nothing for the modal shift they claim to want to achieve. For example, the 14% reduction in electricity use is hardly surprising given the reduced number of Eurostar and Javelin trains using the line due to the Covid pandemic. While they are clearly doing a lot of charitable work with other organizations, none of this is likely to result
Kent is the closest UK region to Europe. Since the Covid outbreak in Spring 2020, when Eurostar stopped serving Ashford and Ebbsfleet, there has been no direct rail link to France & beyond. You cannot even take a train and ferry via Dover and Calais, as the ferry companies now refuse to accept foot passengers and no longer run connecting buses between the ports and the train stations. Unless you drive a car, you are forced to travel to London & back adding extra time and cost to your journey. Given the Climate Emergency it is ridiculous that the low carbon travel option is not available for Kent residents. One interim solution could be for South-east Trains to sponsor a
A company owned by several French ski resorts called “Compagnie des Alpes” will be running direct trains chartered from Eurostar on 16 week-ends this winter. This will not be a train where you buy a ticket from Eurostar, it will be a train where you have to buy a package deal from the company for your holiday. See All Aboard The Travelski Express – Ski Train Back for Coming Season | InTheSnow “
Please sign this petition which asks the UK Government to give Eurostar the same financial support as given to the airlines. See https://www.change.org/p/grant-shapps-ensure-we-have-a-green-link-to-europe-support-eurostar-fdef3b98-c843-40c4-9060-0d1dc81fbb5f
The Climate Train to the COP 26 Climate Conference in Glasgow has been confirmed for Saturday 30th October. This train has been organised by “Youth for Sustainable Travel” with the support of Eurostar, Netherlands Railways, Avanti West Coast and Prorail the Dutch Rail Infrastructure company. A group of climate activists & others will be taking this special Eurostar train from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Brussels arriving in London at around Midday on Saturday 30th October . They will take the short walk from St Pancras across to Euston to continue onto Glasgow using selected Avanti West Coast services. For further information go to: https://railtothecop.com/apply Rail to the Cop will be promoting the role of sustainable travel in tackling climate change as well as
RAIL TO THE COP : On the 1st May Youth for Sustainable Travel (YfST)launched their campaign for sustainable travel to the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to be held from 1st – 12th November 2021. YfST is a group of young climate activists and experts registered in the Netherlands. For further information click here: https://railtothecop.com/ EUROSTAR’S FUTURE SECURE FOR NOW : On the 18th May Eurostar announced they had agreed to inject a further £250 million into the business with their shareholders and bankers. Now that travel restrictions are slightly relaxed , Eurostar hope to run two daily services on the London to Paris route from the 27th May. For further information click here: Eurostar secures £250m financing agreement with
EUROSTAR NEEDS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Due to Covid cross border travel restrictions, Eurostar services have been limited for most of the year so far to one daily London-Paris return run and one daily London- Brussels – Amsterdam run. We are calling on the UK, French & Belgian governments to provide financial support for our key rail link with contintental Europe.