Channel hopping
Monday, November 18, 2019 at 13:39 
Just arrived in Brussels.
Unlike my trip to Amsterdam last week I travelled via Eurostar, which I generally find quite relaxing compared to flying.
This morning however I had to share a coach with a businesswoman who spent the entire journey making hands free calls on her mobile phone, even when we were in the tunnel. (“Super, Tom, it’s lovely to connect.”)
At one point she purchased something - slates or paving stones, I think - and read out her full credit card details - name, number, expiry date and the three digit security code - loud enough for everyone to hear.
Anyway, it’s exactly 25 years since passengers first started arriving on the continent via the Channel Tunnel.
We take it for granted now but a 31.5 mile long undersea tunnel remains a remarkable feat of civil engineering.
It’s a very easy journey for me because the train from Cambridgeshire goes direct to Kings Cross/St Pancras and within minutes I can be in the Eurostar departure lounge.
Before the first Eurostar service on November 14, 1994, there were two ways to cross the Channel - by air or by ferry.
I don’t remember cheap flights being a thing in the Eighties so bargain bucket weekends in Paris would begin at Victoria Station, often late at night. (Travelling overnight was one way to keep costs down.)
If I recall, the departure board would specify the service as the ‘boat train’ which sounded impossibly exotic.
In reality we would trundle through the Kent countryside in a dingy British Rail carriage that was at least 30 years old and in need of serious TLC.
We would arrive at Dover around midnight and board the overnight ferry which would dock in Calais in the middle of the night after a less than luxurious crossing.
Passengers would disembark and be escorted to another train that was waiting to take us to our destination.
We would arrive in Paris, tired and hungry, in time for breakfast, having had little or no sleep.
When you’re young it’s all part of the ‘charm’ of international travel but I was still doing it in my early thirties!
In fact, the only time I flew to Paris in that period was on business in 1987 when the organisers of a conference I was addressing put me up at the five star Intercontinental Hotel and paid all my expenses.
After Eurostar launched in 1994, cross-Channel trains were notorious for the fact that on the English side they ran so slowly on our ageing tracks it was possible to see into people’s houses.
As soon as the train reached the tunnel it would suddenly speed up and maintain the same breathtaking pace all the way to Paris.
Eventually the UK built a high speed rail link on our side of the Channel and moved the Eurostar terminal from Waterloo to St Pancras.
Aesthetically, the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras is possibly the one port of entry into Britain we can actually be proud of.
After Brexit the Government must improve first impressions of the country at every entry point because at the moment many are just not good enough.
Personally I can’t think of a better statement that Britain is open for business and welcomes visitors - businessmen and tourists - than upgrading our arrival terminals.
Some friendly smiles from our rather austere Border Force officers wouldn’t go amiss either!
Above: Bob Shields, feature writer for the Daily Record, at the original Eurostar terminal at Waterloo before joining Forest staff and supporters (below) aboard a Eurostar train travelling to Paris on No Smoking Day, 1999, when you could still smoke on board. Those were the days!
Reader Comments (2)
Smoking cabins on trains should be restored. In addition ample sized, well ventilated smoking areas in train stations and terminals should be restored.
If only....