KENT REMAINS CUT OFF FROM EUROPE UNTIL 2023 !!

Kent is the closest UK region to Europe. Since the Covid outbreak in Spring 2020, when Eurostar stopped serving Ashford and Ebbsfleet, there has been no direct rail link to France & beyond. You cannot even take a train and ferry via Dover and Calais, as the ferry companies now refuse to accept foot passengers and no longer run connecting buses between the ports and the train stations. Unless you drive a car, you are forced to travel to London & back adding extra time and cost to your journey. Given the Climate Emergency it is ridiculous that the low carbon travel option is not available for Kent residents. One interim solution could be for South-east Trains to sponsor a

LAUNCH OF THE TRAVELSKI EXPRESS – DIRECT TRAINS FROM LONDON TO THE FRENCH SKI RESORTS WILL RETURN THIS WINTER

A company owned by several French ski resorts called “Compagnie des Alpes” will be running direct trains chartered from Eurostar on 16 week-ends this winter. This will not be a train where you buy a ticket from Eurostar, it will be a train where you have to buy a package deal from the company for your holiday. See All Aboard The Travelski Express – Ski Train Back for Coming Season | InTheSnow “

LAUNCH OF RAIL TO COP 26

The Climate Train to the COP 26 Climate Conference in Glasgow has been confirmed for Saturday 30th October. This train has been organised by “Youth for Sustainable Travel” with the support of Eurostar, Netherlands Railways, Avanti West Coast and Prorail the Dutch Rail Infrastructure company. A group of climate activists & others will be taking this special Eurostar train from Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Brussels arriving in London at around Midday on Saturday 30th October . They will take the short walk from St Pancras across to Euston to continue onto Glasgow using selected Avanti West Coast services. For further information go to: https://railtothecop.com/apply Rail to the Cop will be promoting the role of sustainable travel in tackling climate change as well as

May 2021

RAIL TO THE COP : On the 1st May Youth for Sustainable Travel (YfST)launched their campaign for sustainable travel to the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to be held from 1st – 12th November 2021. YfST is a group of young climate activists and experts registered in the Netherlands. For further information click here: https://railtothecop.com/ EUROSTAR’S FUTURE SECURE FOR NOW : On the 18th May Eurostar announced they had agreed to inject a further £250 million into the business with their shareholders and bankers. Now that travel restrictions are slightly relaxed , Eurostar hope to run two daily services on the London to Paris route from the 27th May. For further information click here: Eurostar secures £250m financing agreement with

February 2021

EUROSTAR NEEDS GOVERNMENT SUPPORT Due to Covid cross border travel restrictions, Eurostar services have been limited for most of the year so far to one daily London-Paris return run and one daily London- Brussels – Amsterdam run. We are calling on the UK, French & Belgian governments to provide financial support for our key rail link with contintental Europe.

October 2020

TEE 2.0 (TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS) A plan was recently published by the German Government for “International high speed and overnight rail services to promote climate change mitigation. ” The plan proposes 8 long distance day services and 8 new overnight services across Europe”. Some services could be set up with the current infrastructure and others can be set up once planned improvements to the infrastructure are completed. The plan has also been supported by the European Commission. MORE BAD NEWS FROM EUROSTAR >> Due to the Covid situation they only running two return services a day from London to Paris and only one daily return service to Brussels. We then issued a press release outlining our concerns over the long-term

August 2020

NIGHT TRAIN REVIVAL IN FRANCE In recent years before the Covid crisis there remained only 3 regular night train services for the whole of France. On 2nd August president Macron announced plans to expand the number of night train services across France from 2022. GOOD AND BAD NEWS FROM EUROSTAR THE GOOD : Eurostar are now running regular services from London to Paris, Brussels, Lille & Amsterdam. They have also made it more flexible if you want to exchange your ticket for a different service. THE BAD : Eurostar are not serving Ebbsfleet, Ashford, Calais Frethun or Marseilles until further notice. Nor do they plan to run their services to the French Ski resorts in 2021.

February 2020

SOME EUROSTAR NEWS Eurostar announced a new direct return service from Amsterdam to London starting on the 30th April. The service will run twice daily taking around 4 hours and 10 minutes with a stop in Brussels. It is expected that these trains will also serve Rotterdam from the 18th May. AND WE HAVE BEEN NOTICED IN THE PRESS !! Our letter to the New European titled “Back on the Rails” was published on 13th February. We were able to explain the outcome of our January meetings in Brussels and publicise the planned October “Back-on-track” conference – also in Brussels. One of our members also had a letter published in the Financial Times on the same day titled “Couchettes may