Operator: Eurostar
Headcode: 9I67
Route: BRU-STP
Class: Standard Premier
Seat: C16 S34 C15 S28
Date: Friday 27th January 2023
My arrival into Brussels from Düsseldorf marked the start of the last leg of my brief adventure into Germany. All that was now left was the journey back across Belgium, the top corner of France and under the Channel to London, a journey that can only be made with Eurostar. As with the leg from Düsseldorf to Brussels, I’d decided to upgrade on this two-hour leg and would be travelling in Standard Premier between the Belgian and British capitals. If you want to catch up on the other posts from my Düsseldorf trip, you can check them out here, here, here, here and here.
After making my way down from the platforms to the ground level concourse, I arrived at the Eurostar terminal at 1859, which turned out to be one minute prior to check-in opening at 1900, a time that Eurostar seemed to be quite strict about. When the gates opened, I was quickly through check-in, security and passport control and into the departure lounge certainly within 10 minutes, if not a few minutes quicker. I think the best way to describe the Eurostar departure lounge at Brussels is ‘stylish but tired’ with it probably having looked its best a few years ago but needing a bit of a refurb and refresh now.
An important thing to note is that there’s very limited facilities in the departure lounge, with toilets, a duty-free shop and vending machines but no food outlets. So if you’re planning on eating before getting on board your train to London, make sure you do it in the city or the main part of the station before heading through into the Eurostar terminal. The other big issue with the Eurostar departure lounge is its location under the platforms, which prevents there being any natural light, with only bright and unforgiving artificial lights illuminating tired travellers.
Despite sitting in the departure lounge with little to do for 90 or so minutes, I was glad I had made my way through security and passport control when I did as it seemed that the process was taking a lot longer as it go busier. With check-in supposedly closing at 2000, the departure lounge continued to get busier until around 2030, indicating that the process was taking three to four times longer than I managed it when check-in first opened. Either that or check-in was kept open a bit later than 2000, but I’d recommend having some dinner in the main station, then getting through to the departure lounge early and settling down with a good book so you’re not stressed if the process does take a while.
Just after 2030, the boarding process began with the queue forming to head through the duty-free shop and up onto platform 1. With the layout of the station, I assume that if your train is departing from platforms 2 or 3 then you may board from the other side of the departure lounge, but I’m not sure. As we reached the platform I saw that I was once again travelling on one of Eurostar’s newer e320 class 374s, meaning I my run of not travelling on one of the older e300 class 373s continued. With the entrance at Brussels being the opposite end of the train to the exit in London, I had a long walk at one end or the other as Standard Premier is usually in coaches 2, 3, 14 and 15, and so when picking my seat I’d decided to take that walk in London, a decision I would come to curse.
My booked seat was actually in coach 16, a coach that is usually designated Business Premier, however when there isn’t the demand for Eurostar’s top class of travel, can be used to expand the Standard Premier offering. However, as I was greeted by the on-train staff whilst boarding, I was asked to move to seat 28 in coach 15, presumably saving them serving both carriages on this particularly quiet service. Seat 28 was a forward-facing window seat at a table of four, however I had this to myself, giving me plenty of space to spread out for the journey ton London. Boarding was completed pretty quickly and at 2055 we departed Brussels, one minute early.
Usually, this service would be a service from Amsterdam Centraal to London St Pancras, however owing to the ongoing works to upgrade the Eurostar facilities in Amsterdam, The Netherlands has lost its direct connection to and from England for the time being. For passengers from Brussels, it doesn’t make much difference apart from more seats being available and a slightly longer boarding time, but other than that the service remains the same. Unfortunately, despite the extra boarding time and our early departure from Brussels, these didn’t equal positive progress, as we made it a mere three miles from the station to the Forest-Midi area of the city, before coming to a stand due to a ‘traffic problem’.
We were back on the move five to ten minutes later, but this delay stuck with us throughout the journey, although thankfully didn’t snowball unlike on my journey from Brussels to Düsseldorf. Before we’d reached the Belgian border, dinner was being served by the onboard staff which consisted of cold cuts of chicken with an orzo salad. At the time of my journey, only Eurostar’s routes to and from the UK included a meal in the ‘middle’ class of travel, in this case Standard Premier. However, shortly after I made my journey, Eurostar further aligned its ‘Blue-Eurostar’ and ‘Red-Eurostar’ operations, with the middle class of travel now being ‘Eurostar Plus’ and a meal being included on all journeys.
Also included with dinner was a small desert of Belgian chocolate tiffin and a choice of soft and alcoholic drinks, and I went for a ‘Nomad’ pale ale. This beer had been brewed especially for Eurostar by TwoTribes, an independent brewery located a stones throw from where High Speed 1 emerges from the London tunnels on approach to St Pancras. Its always nice to see operators supporting supplies local to their routes, and whilst I think LNER currently lead the way this by showing a map of their routes and suppliers on the back of the menus in 1st Class, its good to see Eurostar also starting to promote these links.
Our earlier delay was maintained, and we arrived at our only intermediate stop, Lille Europe, running around ten minutes late. Whilst I wouldn’t describe myself as a regular traveller on Eurostar, I have travelled a reasonable number of times with them now and this was the first time I’d had a train call at the less ‘dungeon like’ half of Lille Europe station. The station’s westerly platforms, 43 & 45, are adjacent to the large glass frontage of the station and not covered by the concourse, whereas the easterly platforms 44 & 46 are entirely covered by the concourse and separated from the westerly platforms by two through lines, pretty much removing all-natural light.
The remainder of our journey to St Pancras was uneventful, with us exiting the Channel Tunnel at 2136, around an hour and 45 minutes after leaving Brussels. Arriving into London St Pancras at 2207, 10 minutes late, I was cursing my decision to pick a seat at the rear of the train rather than the front. Whilst arriving at St Pancras on Eurostar is pretty efficient, I did think the delay was going to cause me to miss my planned train home as it had halved my connection time. Despite this, some speed walking down the platform at St Pancras, a even a short jog down the platform at Kings Cross meant I successfully made the 2218 departure to Peterborough, just 11 minutes after arriving at St Pancras.
All in all this was another pleasant journey with Eurostar to bring an end to another trip. Whilst the departure lounge at Brussels is a bit tired, I was still able to get a seat and relax whilst waiting to board. If the price is right, I’d certainly recommend the upgrade to Standard Premier, or Eurostar Plus as its now called, as the extra space and more peaceful carriages alone can be worth it on busy services. In terms of the delay, in reality it was pretty minor and did go to prove just how efficient the arrival process at St Pancras can be, although I’d rather not have an 11-minute connection in future! Overall a pretty good show from Eurostar on this leg of the journey.
Lounge 0*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 4*
Service 5*
Punctuality 4*
Overall Rating 17/25 (read about my rating system here!)
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