Le Shuttle Boarding Groups

[ryan125hst]

If you look at the live departure boards for LeShuttle, you will see three boarding groups for each shuttle, e.g. A1, A3 and A5; or B1, B3 and B5 etc. They seem to go around the alphabet for each subsequent departure. But do each of the numbers have a meaning?

Does it relate to the location on the train, e.g. 1 is for vehicles over 1.85 meters that need to go on the single deck portion of the train, 3 is for the upper deck of the double deck section and 5 is the lower deck for example. Does it have another meaning? Or is it more random and doesn’t relate to anything specifically?

Why is there no group 2 or group 4? Did they used to exist and have been removed?

Relating to the boarding groups, how do you get directed to the right train? Having watched a few videos of the boarding process, it seems it’s quite common to go through passport control, choose the lane for your vehicle height and then be faced with a single green arrow to tell you where to queue, with no mention of the train you are boarding. How do they separate out vehicles travelling in different trains?

 

[StephenHunter]

If you look at the live departure boards for LeShuttle, you will see three boarding groups for each shuttle, e.g. A1, A3 and A5; or B1, B3 and B5 etc. They seem to go around the alphabet for each subsequent departure. But do each of the numbers have a meaning?

Does it relate to the location on the train, e.g. 1 is for vehicles over 1.85 meters that need to go on the single deck portion of the train, 3 is for the upper deck of the double deck section and 5 is the lower deck for example. Does it have another meaning? Or is it more random and doesn’t relate to anything specifically?

Why is there no group 2 or group 4? Did they used to exist and have been removed?

Relating to the boarding groups, how do you get directed to the right train? Having watched a few videos of the boarding process, it seems it’s quite common to go through passport control, choose the lane for your vehicle height and then be faced with a single green arrow to tell you where to queue, with no mention of the train you are boarding. How do they separate out vehicles travelling in different trains?

From my memory of using it, they release the relevant boarding groups from the queue and there are directional arrows that will point you down the relevant platform. They would only board one at a time, I would guess.

 

[ryan125hst]

From my memory of using it, they release the relevant boarding groups from the queue and there are directional arrows that will point you down the relevant platform. They would only board one at a time, I would guess.

As I look at the online live departure board now, group B1 and B3 are showing as "Final Call", both for the 15:54 service, but group C1, for the 16:06 service, is shown as "Please Proceed" which would encourage cars for two different trains to head towards the boarding queues. From the videos I saw, there was no distinction as to which queue to join, everyone seemed to be joining a single queue. Do the boarding group hangars get checked by staff and cars directed to separate queues when multiple boarding groups are being told to proceed from the terminal to the queue at the same time?

 

[Cloud Strife]

As I look at the online live departure board now, group B1 and B3 are showing as "Final Call", both for the 15:54 service, but group C1, for the 16:06 service, is shown as "Please Proceed" which would encourage cars for two different trains to head towards the boarding queues.

So, B1 and B3 means that you have to drive into lanes 1 or 3 (depending on your number), while C1 means you also have to take lane 1. As it's "final call" for B1/B3, you can take lane 2, and you'll be let through while traffic queues up in lane 1. The system can cope with multiple departures, as each lane has a "follow xx" sign for your platform, which can then be signed on the overpass/ramps leading to your train. I don't think these signs are used normally however, as only one (car) service is boarded at a time. From my understanding, the original plan was that several trains would be boarded at once, but these days, they only use lanes 1/3/5, so it's always possible to board during 'final call'.

In practice, what often happens is that someone with the letter D1 might turn up when B1 has "please proceed" and nothing happens in practice. It depends how busy it is, but they can (and will) send people back to the terminal if the train is full. If the train isn't full however, they'll be waved on regardless of what number they have, as the check in machines also often offer earlier departures for those who arrived early.

I think in Calais, it works a bit differently, and they generally don't care who boards when or even in which queue they're in. I don't think the lanes are even marked in Calais!

 

[ryan125hst]

Right I see, so presumably C1 will only be changed to "please proceed" and B1 and B3 to "final call" once the vehicles in lanes 1 and 3 for train B have cleared the lane?

Is there any logic to the numbers or is it just allocated randomly? How is it decided whether vehicles will travel on the upper or lower deck? Is it pre determined or done by staff as cars get to the platform?

 

[Flange Squeal]

When I'm in the van I always get allocated 3 for the full height and wider road width carriages (along with campervans, cars with bikes/boxes on roof and some Range Rover type things), and when I'm in the car (or the few times in the past I took my motorbike) I have always been allocated 5 for the double deck carriages. I'd therefore be willing to place a bet that 3 is for taller vehicles and 5 is for a typical car.

1 is usually called for boarding at a similar time to 3, with 5 following a time later. Once through border controls, high (3) and low/medium (5) height vehicles are directed along different roadways to one another to access the final boarding holding queue lines, which are separated by concrete kerbs and hedges and then bollards when driving across the bridge to the train, which is why I guess say B1/B3 can be called to proceed while A5 is still also boarding as they end up in separate holding queues anyway. During peak periods where trains are every 15 mins or so, you can get to the final holding queues and dot matrix signs will have the letters of different trains to guide you to the right queue, as well as the usual attendant with a Strictly Come Dancing style paddle with a queue number on it after they'd observed your hanger's train letter.

After around 15 years of using the tunnel several times each year, I have given up trying to work out what 1 is allocated for though! I know it doesn't signify pets as when we had a dog we were given 3 or 5 with a paw print symbol on the hanger. I know it doesn't signify motorbikes as I was always given a 5 with mine. I know it doesn't signify electric cars as I've seen them with 3 or 5 and a plug symbol on the hanger. I know it's not freight in vans as they have a 'VP' symbol on the hanger. And I know it's not Flexiplus customers as the few times I've splashed out for that due to uncertain travel timings you bypass the main terminal building (which is there you usually have to wait for your letter and number to be called) and instead go straight from check-in machines to border controls and a dedicated Flexiplus lounge, from where - when you are ready - you just drive straight to a dedicated Flexiplus lane and get put on the next train. The only thing I don't know is if it might denote a disabled passenger is in the vehicle as there are blue badge lanes at the final holding area.

All that said, in the last few years I've found increasingly you can get held up so long in the boarding process that I've not ended up on my booked train anyway, and you only get any kind of compensation if you are over an hour late as a result. More and more often lately I've been booked on what is say Train B, only to get offered an earlier departure on Train A half hour earlier (this sometimes happens if it's not a particularly busy time) and an A3/5 hanger (depending which vehicle I'm in). I've then gone to border controls as soon as Ax is called, only to spend so long getting through border control that I end up on what was my original booked Train B anyway. Worse is when you don't get offered an earlier train and end up on the train behind your booked one! But despite that grumble, I still choose Le Shuttle over the ferry every time (unless heading towards the west/south west of France in which case I use an overnight Brittany Ferries service) as I still find it the much more convenient and enjoyable experience compared to ferries from Dover.

Edit: @ryan125hst You asked about how upper/lower deck boarding is allocated. Basically you drive down the ramp onto the platform and the attendants will direct x number of cars to the higher deck, then a few to the lower deck, and so on. Once on the train you keep driving forward until an attendant on board tells each car to stop and they close the doors between each carriage, so I guess loading both decks at the same time is more time efficient than waiting for one deck to load then do the other. Doing x number of cars at a time I guess means the attendants upstairs and downstairs have smaller more manageable 'waves' of cars to deal with rather than a whole train length in one go.