Is there any news on the supposed direct travel by train from Gare St Jean to St Pancras due to happen in 2025? Or am I going mad and this is just a figment of my feverish imagination. I seem to remember Jupiter promising this.
You certainly didn’t imagine it, but it’ll be 2026 at the earliest… And even that seems unlikely as I’ve not heard anything about this for ages.
If the man in seat 61 doesn’t include it then it doesn’t exist yet!
They’re waiting for Network Rail to sort out the Rail Replacement Bus Service from Folkestone to St Pancras. 
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Thanks Jane
That has the ring of truth.
Tod
Thanks Gareth. Hope I’m still around to use it.
Tod
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I live in a village with a railway station about an hour south of London. Today I decided to travel by train to my local big town and, on arrival at the station was notified that due to ‘work on the line’ there would be a replacement bus service. And sure enough there was a bus already outside . . . . . with the engine compartment open. Gazing intently into the engine bay were two men, the driver and a mechanic. On enquiring, I was told I would have to wait for . . . you’ve guessed it . . . . a replacement bus for the replacement bus.
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How long would the trip be? I’ve been on the Blue Train and the Ghan and while both seem exotic and we enjoyed the trip, sleeper trains, despite dining and observation cars, are far from comfortable. Better a couple of hours flight, unless Hercule Poirot is onboard.
They reckon five hours.
Ah, but flying is never as quick as you think… you have to get there well ahead of time to check in and go through security (yes you do that at St. Pancreas* too but it’s not usually as long a wait) and then you have to get from the airport to wherever you are going at the other end. The train will deposit you at Bordeaux-Saint-Jean right in the middle of the city.
And there will be more legroom and probably better food!
Unfortunately flying is often cheaper by quite a margin (e.g. London to Edinburgh), so whether it’s better than flying will depend how much they want to charge for these new long-range services and what the timetables are like.
(*) intentional typo
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And it’s generally a lot more miserable.
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The word for this, appropriate in this case is ‘sic’. And I think we smarty-pants SFistas would have got the joke. 
[quote=“ChrisMann, post:10, topic:51608”]
flying is often cheaper by quite a margin[/quote]
Not 'arf.
My ex-P.A. used to live an hour north of Montpellier. Her b/d is a holiday in FR 11/11/XXXX. I flew there to visit. RyanAir charged £1 [!] outbound and +/- €7 return. This was some 20 years ago. I’ve flown Valencia return for £30. It would have been £20 if we’d left from our original return a/p Malaga. Again, about 15 years ago.
Prestwick/Stansted £9 …
Friends with eco pretentions [blown apart by regular medium/long haul flying] decided that their visit to Valencia would be by train, return, from London, 1st Class. By all accounts it was a marvellous way to do it. It cost a sizable £XXXX
I flagged it in case you were sic of me… 
But yes we are well supplied with smarty-pants around here. 
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A pal is the boss of a quango/dept of The Mayor of London that sells London internationally as a venue for conferences/exhibitions/professional/commercial gatherings.
She was all set, back-along - must be 4-5 years now - to take the inaugural train trip London-Bdx. I volunteered as snapper to record the jolly.
Now I know why I heard nothing of this. I’ll be back on the case.
She gets invited to visit other destinations similar, of course. Valencia recently but the latest is Monaco 
My sister-in-law just got promoted to be Head of Communications (i.e. chief PR lady) for Oceania Cruises.
Of course this involves a lot of time spent drinking champagne and eating three course meals while sailing round the Med or Caribbean.
My brother and niece have been on a couple of freebie (short) cruises but the rest of us are still waiting for our invites.
I jest of course, she works extremely hard (conference calls on Zoom at all sorts of odd hours with people around the planet, and a lot of time spent in airports). But still, come on Louise, what are family connections for?
Ah, well that’s very doable. I thought it might be an overnight thing.
[quote=“captainendeavour, post:14, topic:51608”]
I volunteered as snapper to record the jolly.
[/quote]Of course you did