Operator: Eurostar
Headcode: 9O31
Route: PND-STP
Class: Standard
Seat: C13 S34
Date: Thursday 17th August 2023
Having arrived in Paris the day before on a TGV from La Rochelle (read about that here), we’d spent the evening and morning exploring the city of lights a bit more before heading to Gare du Nord ready to start the final leg of our journey home. Just a few weeks before the Thalys brand disappeared, our journey from Paris to London St Pancras was with the original Eurostar onboard one of their newer class 374 e320 trains.
We had stayed in a hotel a stones throw from the station and, having navigated the closure of the lifts, made our way upstairs to the mezzanine where the Eurostar terminal is located. Having heard horror stories of the process at Gare du Nord, we had left plenty of time, however ended up passing through security and both passport controls without any issue, making it from hotel to departure lounge in just 22 minutes.
Whilst we’d been on holiday I’d received an email from Eurostar regarding a change of train and needing to reprint or redownload our boarding passes. Unfortunately, this meant that I’d likely missed out on my first journey on an older class 373 e300 train, with all of my Eurostar journeys so far being on the newer class 374 e320.
One of the most immediately obvious things about Gare du Nord was that it was a lot less chaotic than St Pancras. With only a roughly hourly service to London departing from the Eurostar terminal, there were at max two trainloads of passengers within the terminal compared to the three or four within the terminal at St Pancras.
Within the departure lounge there is a duty free and a café, so refreshments can be purchased, however if you fancy something more substantial, make sure you eat before heading through the Eurostar check-in and security process. As we found some seats overlooking the main station concourse, the other thing that was noticeable about Gare du Nord was that it needs its windows cleaning as, despite the excellent vantage point, getting a photo of our train was almost impossible through the grime. A lot of editing was required to make the photos decent enough to use.
The only chaos I really noticed during our time at Gare du Nord was during boarding, not hoped by one of the two escalators down to the platforms being out of use, meaning everyone with luggage was boarding via the rear entrance. For us, this rear escalator brought us onto the platform right by the door for coach 13 where we were booked in seats 37 & 38, a pair of ‘airline style’ seats.
Whilst these ‘airline style’ seats have slightly less room to move than the table seats, they do have the advantage of not having a person opposite to content with for leg room. If you need both table space and leg room, Standard Premier (SP) is probably for you and you can read my review of my journey to Amsterdam in SP here.
Departing one-minute early at 1312, we initially ran along the ‘classic lines’ out of Gare du Nord, past the Stade de France and duo of SNCF railway deports before reaching Villiers-le-Bel-Gonesse-Arounville where a flying junction took us onto LGV Nord. Originally opened in 1993, LGV Nord connects Paris with the Belgian border and Channel Tunnel and sees a wide range of high-speed trains operated by SNCF and Eurostar (both the original and ex-Thayls parts).
LGV Nord has two triangular flying junctions that are key to the connectivity it provides. The first, at Vérmars, connects the LGV Nord with the LGV Interconnexion Est which provides access to Charles de Gaulle airport, Disneyland Paris and the LGVs Sud-Est and Atlantique. It is this junction that previously allowed Eurostar to run direct trains from London to Disneyland, the French Alps and the French riviera.
The second triangular flying junction is at Fretin, where LGV Nord is connected to the Belgian HSL1, allowing services to run in any direction between Paris, Brussels and the Channel Tunnel (via Lille). With Thalys having now been rebranded as Eurostar, Eurostar services now operate in all directions around this triangle.
Before we reached Fretin, we passed the corner of France’s largest airport, Paris Charles de Gaulle and amongst the multitude of aircraft visible, I managed to focus on easyJet’s G-EZBA landing from Glasgow at the end of its 79-minute flight from Scotland. Continuing north, LGV Nord follows France’s A1 motorway for most of its route until reaching Lille.
As we approached Lille we passed SNCF’s expansive passenger sidings which service both local and high-speed trains, before passing through Lille Europe station without stopping. The stretch between Lille and Calais was uneventful and we were soon slowing down as we passed through Calais Fréthurn station on approach to the Channel Tunnel. Thanks to its location at the south end of the tunnel, Calais is a major railway hub, with Fréthurn yard being a key point for freight between the UK and Europe, whilst the terminal for Le Shuttle is also expansive.
As we headed through the tunnel, we decided to get some lunch from the onboard café bar and unfortunately this was quite disappointing. At €9 for a baguette, piece of brownie and a drink, we found the ham & cheese baguette a bit ‘plasticky’ whilst the gluten-free brownie was a bit hard. Thankfully the can of coke was issue free, but I’d recommend eating at either end of your journey rather than relying on the onboard food.
With the time having jumped back an hour, we exited the tunnel at 1355 UK time, around an hour and 40 minutes after leaving Paris. As we passed Dollands Moor freight yard to our left, we picked up speed once again and saw both the now incorrectly names Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International stations at speed from the avoiding lines. Having dived under the Thames and then climbed over the LTS lines out of Fenchurch Street, we were soon entering the pair of London tunnels on final approach into St Pancras.
Arriving into the greatest of the London termini two minutes early at 1428, I was pleased to see one of Eurostar’s original class 373 e300s sitting in platform 6 awaiting its next duties. Exiting the platforms at the London end gave me a chance to admire the power cars before the walk through the maze that is the customs area at St Pancras.
Once again our journey with Eurostar was pleasant and I was surprised by how relaxed the check-in/security/border process was at Gare du Nord. Unfortunately, the onboard food continues to let Eurostar down, so hopefully this is something they can sort soon. With another trip onboard to Brussels in January, we’ll see if anything changes.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 2*
Service 5*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 16/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 