Video London to Italy in a day by train.
- Thread starter Neil
- Start date
adrian
Flying Squad
Thanks for posting and food for thought. Our friends have just returned from Tolouse and used the train all the way - thoroughly enjoyed it. So we were considering something similar for next years holiday.
Reminds me also of when a student and working in Luxembourg I worked with a Finnish student who would do a similar challenge. how far he could travel by train over the weekend and be back at work on Monday, if I remember correctly he got down to Gibraltar one weekend and up to Copenhagen another weekend. I forget how far he managed in Italy.
Reminds me also of when a student and working in Luxembourg I worked with a Finnish student who would do a similar challenge. how far he could travel by train over the weekend and be back at work on Monday, if I remember correctly he got down to Gibraltar one weekend and up to Copenhagen another weekend. I forget how far he managed in Italy.
Tony Overton
Western Thunderer
Like wise, thanks for posting, I thoroughly enjoyed it too.
I do Nottingham to Dresden (actually Pirna just a touch further east) entirely by rail each September to visit friends. The journey is just about do able in one day but as I'm on holiday and it would mean a very late arrival at my hotel I take things a bit steadier by breaking the journey on both the outward and return legs by overnighting in Mainz. The Channel tunnel has certainly opened up new opportunities
I do Nottingham to Dresden (actually Pirna just a touch further east) entirely by rail each September to visit friends. The journey is just about do able in one day but as I'm on holiday and it would mean a very late arrival at my hotel I take things a bit steadier by breaking the journey on both the outward and return legs by overnighting in Mainz. The Channel tunnel has certainly opened up new opportunities
Indeed it has, but journey times are already longer due to increased security and customs checks, and will be longer still once all Brits need visas to enter the EU.
My occasional Mont de Marsan to London journey is now padded out with extra time in Paris. Thoughts of a Eurostar service to Bordeaux (or anywhere else) are pie-in-the-sky as Eurostar's business model has been shredded by Brexit and covid.
Chris (writing from SW France)
My occasional Mont de Marsan to London journey is now padded out with extra time in Paris. Thoughts of a Eurostar service to Bordeaux (or anywhere else) are pie-in-the-sky as Eurostar's business model has been shredded by Brexit and covid.
Chris (writing from SW France)
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Up until retirement I used SNCF regularly and benefitted from a Senior Card. This gave me some incredibly low priced journeys, the best being 46€ for a first class seat from Paris to Narbonne. This was a so called Prem, a super advance purchase ticket.
We started driving across France before COVID as SNCF had changed our ideal connection London-Lille-Perpignan when Marseille became Culture Capital of Europe. It never changed back. The added connection in Lyon was well over an hour.
There still isn’t an LGV between Montpellier and Perpignan and there may never be. The cities of Beziers and Narbonne expect to be served by the new line as their Departments are expected to pay a share of construction. A compromise was worked out with an interchange station at Nissan where the line would cross the existing track but that has now been shelved.
We are planning to stop the car drive option next year but research suggests that the new timetables will be inferior to what we enjoyed ten years ago.
The video talks about tight connections. Imagine the first train of one journey ran out of fuel at Gerrards Cross! I talked my way into squeezing into an commuter train to Marylebone and just made it to Eurostar.
We started driving across France before COVID as SNCF had changed our ideal connection London-Lille-Perpignan when Marseille became Culture Capital of Europe. It never changed back. The added connection in Lyon was well over an hour.
There still isn’t an LGV between Montpellier and Perpignan and there may never be. The cities of Beziers and Narbonne expect to be served by the new line as their Departments are expected to pay a share of construction. A compromise was worked out with an interchange station at Nissan where the line would cross the existing track but that has now been shelved.
We are planning to stop the car drive option next year but research suggests that the new timetables will be inferior to what we enjoyed ten years ago.
The video talks about tight connections. Imagine the first train of one journey ran out of fuel at Gerrards Cross! I talked my way into squeezing into an commuter train to Marylebone and just made it to Eurostar.
simond
Western Thunderer
I'm not sure what the arrangements will be for the Eurostar but Madame & I recenly returned from a motorcycle holiday to Italy, and were asked by the UK Immigration officer at Calais to remove our helmets, which we obviously did.
I asked what was going to happen when "they introduce biometric scanning"?
"queues" came the terse reply
"what's that?" says I, indicating the hundreds of cars and vans waiting for him and his colleagues
"longer queues" as he waved us away
he obviously loves his job, and is ideally suited for a role in customer service
I asked what was going to happen when "they introduce biometric scanning"?
"queues" came the terse reply
"what's that?" says I, indicating the hundreds of cars and vans waiting for him and his colleagues
"longer queues" as he waved us away
he obviously loves his job, and is ideally suited for a role in customer service
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
Interesting, Simon, as the attitude at both Ouistreham and Portsmouth ferry terminals has improved no end in the past year. Positively pleasant would be a good description!
adrian
Flying Squad
I came across this earlier - a map of "isochrones" - i.e how far can you travel by train in 5hrs (with caveats)
www.chronotrains.com
Chronotrains
Visualize where you can travel by train in Europe on this interactive map.
Unfortunately SNCF Carte Senior isn't valid on Eurostar Paul, which also doesn't offer a senior reduction. It's ok if you can book 12 weeks ahead but very expensive if you need to go at short notice.
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
As the video covers Schengen it is worth noting that there are now more cross border shared journeys than there used to be. The ICE train out of Paris is an example. What is not so evident is that the EU is dictating how these trains operate. The run through Perpignan for example is now a flagship route Paris-Barcelona and to keep the flag flying fast the number of stops in France has been reduced. The services to Beziers, Sete and Agde have been reduced in favour of Girona and Figueres. Some jointly run trains also no longer serve Montpellier St Roch, using the new 80km LGV bypass. None of these changes are designed to benefit local riders.
RENFE code shares the trains, using French made “Reseau” single level trains with less sound proofing. These are currently allowed as far north as Lyon. They are not as comfortable as the SNCF trains.
RENFE code shares the trains, using French made “Reseau” single level trains with less sound proofing. These are currently allowed as far north as Lyon. They are not as comfortable as the SNCF trains.
Yorkshire Dave
Western Thunderer
You only have to look at the numbers of international departures from any of the major stations (Zürich is a good example along with others)
to see the mumber of cross border workings. ÖBB Railjet and Nightjet are a good example of services.
Would be nice if we had through ICE services from St. Pancras to German cities but with SNCF owning 55% of passenger services it's unlikey despite open rail access and the details in this 2021 article.
Don't know why - other than to protect their own interests - as the SBB runs short multiple units through the Gotthard Base Tunnel (57.09 km) which is longer than the Channel Tunnel (50.46 km) and with traction motors spread along the train rather than in power cars at each end which is one of the 'technical difficulties' not mentioned in the article.
to see the mumber of cross border workings. ÖBB Railjet and Nightjet are a good example of services.
Would be nice if we had through ICE services from St. Pancras to German cities but with SNCF owning 55% of passenger services it's unlikey despite open rail access and the details in this 2021 article.
Don't know why - other than to protect their own interests - as the SBB runs short multiple units through the Gotthard Base Tunnel (57.09 km) which is longer than the Channel Tunnel (50.46 km) and with traction motors spread along the train rather than in power cars at each end which is one of the 'technical difficulties' not mentioned in the article.
Focalplane
Western Thunderer
There are other considerations as well. France charges access partly by the number of axles. All French trains of recent manufacture (Reseau, Duplex, Regional Bombardier) have shared bogies. ICE trains have four axles per coach, as do the new Eurostar train sets. I've always understood the shared bogie set up to be safer in a high speed derailment, not they these happen too often, thank goodness.
As MoatLane has pointed out, you don't get discounts on Eurostar, so I rather expect our preferred cross Europe journey will be via Lille, that is if the fares are cheaper than continuing all the way to Paris. Then an overnight stay in Lyon, perhaps, a far better option than Paris (why? cheaper hotels, better food, friendlier people). We are retired, after all, there's no hurry and this is not a race, though that was in part the origin of this thread! Paul Theroux put it well, the journey can be more exciting than the destination.
As MoatLane has pointed out, you don't get discounts on Eurostar, so I rather expect our preferred cross Europe journey will be via Lille, that is if the fares are cheaper than continuing all the way to Paris. Then an overnight stay in Lyon, perhaps, a far better option than Paris (why? cheaper hotels, better food, friendlier people). We are retired, after all, there's no hurry and this is not a race, though that was in part the origin of this thread! Paul Theroux put it well, the journey can be more exciting than the destination.