Eurostar - the train that thinks it's a Plane

Eurostar is undoubtedly a good thing.   But it constantly seems to want to pretend to be a plane, and adopt all the aspects oft ravelling by plane - good or bad - while it ignores what people value from a train.

First off, why does it need a check in arrangement?   No other trains need this.   And please don't say it's to do with security.   There are no links between the passenger and the ticket (apart from a name, which may be common) and the check-in merely checks the ticket.   No other international day train requires a check-in 30 minutes in advance, even where there are serious border requirements such as crossing into Russia.

And what about all the bag searches?   As far as the tunnel is concerned, a lorry load of margarine will do more damage to the tunnel than a suitcase full of semtex, as we have seen.   And is Eurostar more of an attractive target than a TGV or an ICE, or any other inter-city target.   The train bombers in London and Madrid show that if terror is the objective, bombs on underground and suburban trains are far more effective - and these are far harder to defend.

Of course, any form of security check will reduce risk, but is the cost and detail involved justified by the reduction in risk it achieves?

So what is actually the need for the check-in and security arrangements?   Is it just about exercising control?

Then there is the level of service.   On a plane there are serious restrictions on weight and space which justify the quality and approach to catering.   But these restrictions don't apply so strongly on a train.   So why does Eurostar follow an airline style to catering?   Only to achieve, it must be said, a lower standard.   During the last year, the food I have eaten on Eurostar is routinely worse than most airline food.   The opportunity is there to do much better, but it has been lost by thinking in terms of airline approaches.

To be fair, many of these issues are determined by the security services or the Border and Immigration Agency.   But do they not have anyone who is considering the end to end approach rather than just individual opportunistic approaches to different components?

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I still don't understand why real time infomration works reasonably well when everything is going smoothly, but collases when there are wiespread delays and is abandoned when the going gets really tough.   Let me give you two examples.

The day before yesterday I was on London Bridge station waiting for the 1619 to Ashford.   As it hppens I was there ten minutes early and expeced to see the 1612 Brighton train at the same platform, but it was marked as 'cancelled'.   I checked on he smart phone ad it appeared to have been diverted via Tulse Hill.   Well, these things happen.

At 1617 an Electrostar rolled in to platform 5.   Regular travellers knew that this was the 'canclled' Brighton train and not the Ahford tran shown on the platform indicatos.   Unseasoned tavellers for the Ashfor line got on to be greeted with an on trian announcement that the next stop would be East Croydon.

In quick time, then, the platform indicators changed to sow the train as going to Gatwick Airport, there was an announcement that this was a train for Gatwick Airport, the doors shut and the train moved off.   Too quick for any unsuspecting passengers to Gatwick and I hope nobody for Ashford was trapped inside.

Then, yesterday afternoon, as I came back from Bruxelles to Ashford, the 1630 Ramsgate train was announced as being 6 minutes late.   I checked on the website and saw that it was running between 12 and 15 minute late.   South Eastern build in an automatic recovery of 1 minute per stop for late running trains - which almsot never happens.   So the announcements kept on understating the delays until the train actually came and left, 12 minutes late.

It all shows that information is never given priority, as it should be.

0544

A day trip to Amsterdam should be easy and almost something to look forward to, but it’s tempered quite a bit by needing to get up for the 0544.   My plane from Gatwick wasn’t until 0910 but it really is slow to get from East Kent to Gatwick by train, even though this is its natural catchment area.   While it takes about an hour and a half by car during the morning peak, it takes more than 2 hours by train.   Not only are the trains slow, the connections, particularly at Tonbridge, are very poor, normally needing a wait of 25 minutes there.

The 0544 from Chilham is a bit better as the connections work, but even then it’s slow.   Change at Ashford (5 minutes connection), Tonbridge (4 minutes connection) and Redhill (9 minutes connection).

I drove to Wye because it’s likely that I’ll get the 2003 back from Ashford and was surprised at just how many people were waiting for the first train.   About a dozen people on what was a dark and damp morning.   The train was a Networker bound for Victoria via Maidstone East.   What the good burgers of Maidstone have done to deserve such awful trains I don’t know, but they really aren’t up to a 2 hour journey.   Their lightweight body makes them bounce around with no feeling of solidity.   Still, it was on time and I had no problems in catching the connection to Tonbridge, even though it meant a dash from platform 6 to platform 2.

The Tonbridge train was not full, though it suddenly filled up at Paddock Wood.   Thankfully, at that time in the morning there were mercifully few announcements.   The change at Tonbridge was just a cross platform interchange and not long to wait before we were away.

The route to Redhill is a slow route, though, and it takes half an hour for quite a short distance.   At Redhill, the train pulled up to the far end of the platform (presumably because a Great Western train would pull in behind it, but it seems inconvenient to have such a long walk, especially as the train was beyond the station canopy and it was now starting to rain.

A slow train to Gatwick and then the transit to the North terminal and it had taken me 2 hours just to get to the airport.

Gatwick North now has a separate priority channel through security which I was bale to use – only one person in the queue ahead of me, so that was quick.

I have to say I do like having my boarding card on my mobile.   It really is simple and convenient – no more bits of paper to find and lose or to see scrumpled up.   I am sure this is the way of the future.   I can’t see why every operator doesn’t use it.

The BA lounge was quite quiet but definitely one of the pleasanter places to wait for a plane at Gatwick, even though I had only 40 minutes by the time I got in there.   They are getting their timings worked out, too, because even though I got up to leave the lounge as soon as it said ‘boarding’’, by the time I got to gate 61 most people were on board, so there was no wait there.

The plane left a bit early and got to Amsterdam early but despite the short flight we had a reasonable breakfast (much better than Eurostar) and two cups of coffee before landing.

The weather is not good and the forecast worse.   As we descended over the Dutch coats the sea looked fierce with breakers as fare as you could see.   Not a nice day to be on a boat.

Despite the claims of Schipol, it’s actually not a very large airport and I got out within 10 minutes of leaving the plane.   I had thought there would be a passport delay, but the queues for EU and non-EU had got confused as the non-EU queue was so long it went out of the arrivals hall and down the corridor.   Only one desk for them.   Once we had sorted ourselves out, the EU queue was short and moved quickly.   If only we were part of Schengen!

The hysteria about passports and borders in the UK is quite absurd.   The main checks are really when visas are issued and when checking in and boarding, not at the passport desk.   Apart from a simple identity check – done when you get on the plane you don’t need anything else at the airport.   And if we were coherent about Schengen that’s all we would get.   But, oh no, we have to condemn anyone who might admit that there might be a reason for having something short of the third degree on arrival.   It’s an attitude rooted in the past.

One advantage of a relatively small airport is that everything’s close at hand, including the station.   I had 10 minutes to wait for a train to the RAI and then a battle through the wind (not raining yet) to the RAI itself.   I have to say that NS has become quite grotty.   Lots of trains are covered in graffiti and though it’s nice to travel on a double decker, as an Inter City offering it’s very mediocre – comfort levels of Networkers, if that.

Coming back to RAI station it was throwing it down and too windy for an umbrella.   As I had a bit of time and it was convenient I took the tram to Centraal.   It’s a beautiful station, but it’s all about trains.   This is conventional, I know, and what stations should be about, but it means few good facilities.   Not that it really mattered as I had only a few minutes to wait before the Benelux express appeared to whisk me the Schipol.

NS are now marketing these as ‘Hi-speed’ but they’ve not changed much and the ambience is still very much 1980s.  Leatherette seats, stark lighting, lino flooring.   (I also saw one of the new, genuine high speed, Fyra trains come in and, internally, they’re not much better).

A quick passage into the departure lounge.   At Schipol the security checks are at the gates rather than at the entrance to the departure lounge.   I’m not sure of this is a good thing because it risks delay at the gate when boarding and is quite an inefficient use of equipment.   On the other hand, all I had to show was a passport to get in and that was convenient.

The BA lounge at Amsterdam is pretty standard fare, though the food is less good.   They hassled us through to the gate a good 40 minutes in advance, to make sure we got through the security check on time.   All ready to go on time when the captain announced a 50 minute delay for air traffic control reasons.   No wonder the Americans now consider that driving is a more reliable form of transport than flying!

As it happens the position improved and we actually left on time and arrived at City Airport a couple of minutes early.   The speed of exit is where such a small airport wins out (though they have no IRIS here so it was fortunate there was no queue for passport control.

DLR to Stratford international is easy now, as is the connection to South Eastern.   The combination got me home just about 2 hours after touch down.   Surprisingly, on a good day, I can manage just about the same form Heathrow now.   By public transport Gatwick – the most convenient by car – is now least accessible.⨪