After greeting 500 other activists, a few politicians and railway managers on 30th October off the “Rail to the the COP” first leg on Eurostar at London St Pancras, our roving reporter Ian McDonald then guided them to their special Avanti West Coast train at London Euston for the 2nd leg of their journey. He then went onto Glasgow a week later for the Transport Day of debate and action on 10 November. While he was there you can see that he took the opportunity to promote our campaign. Most people he spoke to agreed that investment in railways rather than battery powered cars is far more effective in combating climate change.

Avanti West Coast then pulled out all the stops at Euston by opening up a normally closed side entrance so that they could go straight onto the platform where their train to Glasgow was waiting on platform 1. This Pendolino train had been specially re- liveried with the message in large letters “Save the Planet”. The train then left on time and arrived on time in Glasgow , despite the poor weather conditions earlier in the day.

Unfortunately, there was not a great amount of press coverage of this event. This was in contrast to coverage given to Greta Thunberg arriving in Glasgow on a different train. Let us now hope that something positive comes out of Transport Day at COP 26 on the 10th November.

WHO Franz Timmermans(EU Commission Vice President), delegates, journalists, lobbyists and climate activists from Europe having arrived on the Eurostar will then be passing through London. They will continue their rail journey on a connecting Avanti West Coast service to Glasgow from London. They will be going to the crucial United Nations COP 26 Climate conference. Franz Timmermans is responsible for implementing the EU Green Deal and the EU Climate Law.

BUT They will have a problem making their connection between the 2 stations.

WHY Because it is not very seamless because our only high speed rail link to Europe is not very well connected to the UK rail network.

SO As most of them will have some luggage ,unless they take an expensive short taxi ride between the 2 stations, they are faced with 4 rather inconvenient choices :

1 To walk along the noisy, congested and polluted Euston Road.

2 To take a quieter walk through less polluted local housing estates which is not clearly signposted.

3 To make a lengthy transfer up and down escalators ,lifts and subways just to go one stop on the Underground.

4 To make a walk to and from bus stops just to go 2 stops on a bus along the congested Euston Road.

If the UK had invested more in our rail network since the opening of the channel tunnel in 1995, the Climate Train could have continued onto Glasgow or failing that they could have used a people-mover or travellator to connect between the 2 stations.

We were very pleased to read Tom Chesshyre’s feature in TNE 254. This provided a critical evaluation of the measures the EU is taking to encourage greater use of the European Rail Network as a low carbon alternative to air travel. It is now quite clear that we face a climate emergency, as evidenced by the sheer number of “record-breaking” fires & floods all over the world. As part of the EU New Green Deal there now seems to be a clear political and financial commitment to improve cross-border long-distance day and night time train services in Europe.

 Due to Johnson’s “Hard Brexit” the UK is now effectively cut-off from these plans, and there is no political commitment from the UK Government to improve our rail links with Europe. The UK could, if it had wanted to, have supported The European Year of Rail, like Norway & others , even though they are not EU member states. This is rather ironic, with the UK chairing the crucial COP 26 meeting in November in Glasgow this year.

 We are now faced with the sorry spectacle of Eurostar(with no UK Government financial support) running just a few Eurostar trains a day from London to only 5 European destinations , while the airlines(with UK Government support) are steadily increasing their services to destinations all over Europe.

 In view of the climate emergency, there is absolutely no reason not to develop better rail links between the UK and Europe. Rail could become our “Green Gateway” to the rest of Europe.

Rail to the Cop will be promoting the role of sustainable travel in tackling climate change as well as promoting rail travel between the UK and mainland Europe. We now look forward to the UK Government (as lead conference organiser) encouraging delegates to use the rail option for travel to and from Glasgow. The conference will take place from Monday 1st November until Friday 12th November.

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 lenders | Rail Technology Magazine