Eurostar on the road to recovery?
Eurostar is adding more trains between the UK and the continent in response to growing demand from passengers.
The changes come following the removal of quarantine restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers from France to the UK. In addition, restrictions have been eased for travel to Belgium and the Netherlands. During August, Eurostar has seen double the number of bookings, and has added 39 trains for travel between the UK and the continent .
Since the easing of travel restrictions by the UK government in August, Eurostar is seeing the gradual return of the weekend break. There has been a 105 per cent rise in August and September weekend trips between London and Paris compared to the same period last year. 83 per cent of bookings can be attributed to leisure travel or visiting friends and family.
Until Christmas 2021, up to eight daily return services will operate. There are four to five trains in each direction on the London to Paris route and three in each direction between London and Brussels via Lille, with one each way extended to Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Normal service has resumed to on the direct service to Paris Eurodisney . However, both Ashford and Ebbsfleet stations will remain closed until at least 2023. Calais station is not currently served by Eurostar. The summer service to Lyon, Avignon and Marseille did not operate in 2021.The Eurostar Ski train for the 2021-22 season is subcontracted to Travelski, owners of ski resorts such as Tignes, Val d’Isere and Les Arcs. Tickets on this train to Bourg St Maurice will only be sold as a package including train travel, transfers, accommodation and Ski passes.
Eurostar travellers can book with confidence knowing that all tickets are flexible with no exchange fee up to seven days before departure. This offers peace of mind should travel restrictions or plans change. Eurostar has introduced new measures to keep passengers safe, with trains deep cleaned before every journey Also there are cleaning teams on board to regularly disinfect high contact areas.
