Keeping onward passenger information current - Eurostar

[whole diary]

[grahame]

There are two flavours of Farringdon Station: Farringdon, code ZFD (which is the Thameslink one), and Farringdon (Elizabeth Line), code FDX. The GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) planner works with the first and refuses the second. NRE^‡(resolve)'s planner won't even let you enter FDX.

Not very clever, these journey planners, are they?

Following up on a tangent.

10 days or so ago (23rd November 2022), checked in and in the lounge at Brussels Midi awaiting Eurostar boarding, I glanced at the Information desk that was there providing London information for visitors.  Sparse, but there were London Underground maps to help (one presumes) people plan and follow onward journeys in our capital.

Except

The maps are dated June 2017!

No Nine Elms; no Battersea Power Station.
No Barking Riverside
No Elizabeth line!

I noted (it may have been St Pancras a couple of weeks earlier) a similarly out of date tube map on the wall for people to look at, but somewhat discounted that as being akin to a piece of artwork; in the fabric, and are people interested in reading an underground map as they leave?

Arriving into St Pancras, the waymarking to other public transport services did not look brilliant to put it mildly - having said which, I shot through as I had a close (or supposed to be close) connection at Paddington onto a last connection of the day

I WOULD thank Eurostar for honouring my booking when I arrived 2.5 hours late in Brussels due to a DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) cancellation (the 2 hourly Frankfurt to Brussels express), but the general flavour of the organisation is one where maximising revenue and minimising the cost of handing them is prioritised over actually providing a good experience.

[Electric train]

Following up on a tangent.

10 days or so ago (23rd November 2022), checked in and in the lounge at Brussels Midi awaiting Eurostar boarding, I glanced at the Information desk that was there providing London information for visitors.  Sparse, but there were London Underground maps to help (one presumes) people plan and follow onward journeys in our capital.

Except

The maps are dated June 2017!

No Nine Elms; no Battersea Power Station.
No Barking Riverside
No Elizabeth line!

I noted (it may have been St Pancras a couple of weeks earlier) a similarly out of date tube map on the wall for people to look at, but somewhat discounted that as being akin to a piece of artwork; in the fabric, and are people interested in reading an underground map as they leave?

Arriving into St Pancras, the waymarking to other public transport services did not look brilliant to put it mildly - having said which, I shot through as I had a close (or supposed to be close) connection at Paddington onto a last connection of the day

I WOULD thank Eurostar for honouring my booking when I arrived 2.5 hours late in Brussels due to a DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) cancellation (the 2 hourly Frankfurt to Brussels express), but the general flavour of the organisation is one where maximising revenue and minimising the cost of handing them is prioritised over actually providing a good experience.

Eurostar less than a year ago was in financial dire straits, very close to ceasing trading due to the loss of revenue due to the pandemic with the impact of new border controls due to Brexit.  During the pandemic Eurostar received very little support from the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) or EU^» (European Union - about) governments other than furlough.  This year doing a refresh of the station facilities was perhaps low on their priority list.

I believe there is a Eurostar brand re-launch in 2023 where the Eurostar (UK - Europ) becomes Eurostar Yellow and Thalys Eurostar Red I suspect the station facilites will be part of that rebranding.