Over the years I've tended to book 3-4 months in advance targeting the lower fares where possible.

Due to production costs I suspect fares will not be lower than the current lead ones from Eurostar, but there maybe more of them available for longer depending how the yield mgmt model is adjusted.

If doing Paris, maybe go out with Eurostar and come back with Virgin or TI.
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It depends if there are any improvements to Eurostar's pricing and changes to the loyalty programme.

If going beyond Paris on a TGV, Eurostar could make sense for journey protection.

If TI other a through fare to Milan, maybe using them all the way would make sense.
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"Ideally" it would be great if SNCF (in some form) were interested in both developing the station and running services.

I suspect Trenitalia would love to run London SP <-> Lyon PD but wouldn't be able to get SNCF Gares and Connexions to develop Lyon PD to allow them to offer such a service.

Ideally had Lyon Part Dieu had the space this would have made a good hub for onward connections to South of 🇫🇷 + 🇪🇸 and 🇮🇹. Is there anyway where else in the South of France that could serve as a cross channel hub?

🤣 just tagged you to a post written in the last couple of minutes bsky.app/profile/layt...

I'm quite looking forward to the ex TPX trains joining Chiltern in the New Year

Just had one now for my morning commute. Maybe that was my last....or may be not. Who knows.😅

I assumed they were due to stop in the last timetable up to 13th Dec then do the farewell this weekend. When do they actually go off the network?

Also what about LeTrain?

Not heard of PAU. Do you have any links for further reading?

Only 3 returns journeys this year but we did travel the entire Eurostar Blue network out of London. That's an increase on the 1 journey done in 2024.

At least the Parisians get a night train to Berlin back at the end of March. And a knock on consequence of that service is that Brussels-Berlin night trains increase from 3 to 6.

Thankfully they seem to sell these crisps at a local garden centre in south west London. Helps fill the gaps between visits to France.

I quite like the Salted Butter flavour.

This one might have been my last one on the commute home yesterday. They have done a good job but I won't miss them in the summer months.

Having not been to Koln HBF for a good 12-13 years, is there space for a passenger lounge close to platform 1? /2

I think the idea has some merit. It provides a degree of simplicity for the casual passenger for the price of the suggested 10-15min. Lots of local public transport feeding into HBF. Lots of shops to pickup food for the 4hr-ish journey back to London. /1

Thanks for clarifying. My fail for not properly checking. Good to see them develop the Amsterdam - Hamburg market.