Eurostar new Lyon service

[cgcenet]

The thought of a one hour stop off at Lille puts me off the South of France service.

People put up with this much hassle and more when flying from UK to southern France.

I think it is fair to say that (even with the stop-off at Lille) train travel between UK and mainland Europe is no worse than flying as far as waiting around and security hassles are concerned, and is usually better, but is not as good as it should be. I would much prefer it if Eurostar were more like taking any other train, i.e. you would just walk from the station concourse onto the platform, ticket in hand, wait for the train to pull in and board it. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way but at least you can take any liquids you want on board and they don't sting you for excess baggage (there is, I think, an official two-piece limit on Eurostar trains but I've never seen it being enforced).

BTW what is with this calling stations served by Eurostar "terminals"? A rail terminal (or terminus) is where a train terminates. Lille is not a terminal for Eurostar, as it doesn't generally terminate any services there.

 

[SephenWorceste]

> People put up with this much hassle and more when flying from UK to southern France

Definitely. I would not consider flying for that journey. My preferred route to and from the South of France would be to combine the Eurostar and TGV with a change in Lille. I have done this several times most recently last week. I spread the journey over two days with a hotel, evening meal and chocolates shopping stop in Lille. I was considering the Eurostar South of France service for my next trip but will probably stick to the way I have done it in the past.

Some very nice people on the same holiday as us were flying back. From Marseilles they had a transfer to the airport, a seven hour wait, a flight to Frankfurt, a flight to Manchester and a long taxi journey. This was all booked for them by the holiday company. I thought of them at Frankfurt airport as I ordered a Creme Brulee in a Lille restaurant.

> calling stations served by Eurostar "terminals"?

Purely to differentiate the small Eurostar area of the station from the larger whole TGV station. Perhaps not the best word.
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> People put up with this much hassle and more when flying from UK to southern France

Definitely. I would not consider flying for that journey. My preferred route to and from the South of France would be to combine the Eurostar and TGV with a change in Lille. I have done this several times most recently last week. I spread the journey over two days with a hotel, evening meal and chocolates shopping stop in Lille. I was considering the Eurostar South of France service for my next trip but will probably stick to the way I have done it in the past.

Some very nice people on the same holiday as us were flying back. From Marseilles they had a transfer to the airport, a seven hour wait, a flight to Frankfurt, a flight to Manchester and a long taxi journey. This was all booked for them by the holiday company. I thought of them at Frankfurt airport as I ordered a Creme Brulee in a Lille restaurant.

> calling stations served by Eurostar "terminals"?

Purely to differentiate the small Eurostar area of the station from the larger whole TGV station. Perhaps not the best word.