Posted 8th December 2011 | 5 Comments
International train travel too bureaucratic, say Lords
A HOUSE OF LORDS Committee has reported that not enough use is being made of the Channel Tunnel. It criticises the booking procedures for international rail journeys as unnecessarily complex, and wants border controls to be streamlined.
It also wants access charges to come down and says there is no need for the Tunnel to have its own safety case.
The new report, 'Tunnel Vision', has been compiled by the House of Lords European Union Committee.
It feels that passengers have been getting a raw deal, and urges that their interests should be 'paramount', saying that 'member States must increase the importance and awareness of passenger rights, and ensure that tickets can be booked conveniently and in an integrated way to allow for easier and less bureaucratic international train travel'.
The report is also calling for a 'full implementation' of the EU Railway Packages in all Member States, as well as a move towards direct governance of the Tunnel by the British and French regulators.
It concludes that the full potential of the Tunnel has yet to be realised, although it notes that another passenger operator is set to start running through the Tunnel in 2013, when Deutsche Bahn is planning to launch through services between London and Germany and also London and the Netherlands.
Baroness O’Cathain, who chairs the committee, said: "Although the planned Deutsche Bahn services from Frankfurt and Amsterdam will result in greater connectivity between the UK and the rest of Europe, there remain many obstacles in the way of an open and less bureaucratic travelling experience for both rail passengers and freight operators.
"The costs of using the tunnel need to be reduced, the arrangements for purchasing tickets to travel on trains across Europe need to be easier and the interests of passengers must be placed at the very heart of services.
"If we are to reach our goal of encouraging less people to fly short distances and for more passengers to 'let the train take the strain', then we must work together to ensure that travelling by rail becomes easier, cheaper and more comfortable than other modes of travel."
The Committee's report and its recommendations about border controls has come at the same time as the broadcast of a BBC investigation into a loophole which it says allows passport-free travel between Brussels and London, by booking a Eurostar ticket as far as Lille and then simply staying on the train. The programme, to be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 20.00 tonight, will also include claims that British and Belgian border control staff have clashed over the matter.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Tony Pearce, Reading, UK
It has always been that way since the opening of the Tunnel. I have always got my tickets via the Deutsche Bahn website which is excellent in getting you from anywhere in the UK to anywhere in Europe. They of course provide excellent European timetables as well. You can get to virtually all of Europe travelling via Bruxelles (Brussels) and Koln (Cologne). I always allow a 2 hour gap when I change trains at each of these cities so that any late running doesn't throw the whole trip into confusion. It also does help if you know what basic Railway Terms are (eg 'How much is a return ticket' or 'What platform does the train to XXX depart from') in the language of your host nation and what the reply is likely to be. (eg Platform 9) Do not rely on Railway staff having a good grasp of English although the Germans and Dutch usually do.
Joel Kosminsky, London, Britain
To reduce Tunnel track access charges needs changes to UK and French law first, as a previous female UK Prime Minister insisted the Chunnel paid for itself. Charges could fall from ABOUT Euro 322 per train kilometre to resemble charges on tracks beyond it of ABOUT Euro 10 per train km. Then if trains aren't full, not just more trains but cheaper fares to get people on them. And maybe if airlines paid their true costs, like adding VAT on their fuel as others have to pay, we could be on a winner. Too much to aim for?
Stephen, Luton, UK
Umm... Deutsche Bahn are delaying to 2015 now. I wonder whether it's because Eurostar got its Siemens order in first and beat DB to it?
To be fair you can book through travel tickets from most UK rail stations to all points in Belgium and France with Eurostar online. Trainseurope and Deutsche Bahn UK do a good job at booking further into the European continent also. Raileurope try to have a monopoly on English-speakers but if you know a bit of french/italian etc book through the rail operator's website directly to get the good online promos! Whatever happened to Railteam and the wonderful integrated ticketing system collaboration??
It is true Eurotunnel levies a high charge for passenger trains, something like £25/passenger for a return journey. Could there be an incentive to reduce this charge to encourage more services or the introduction of new operators?
As for UK Border Agency, come 2015, when there are trains arriving from France, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland etc, surely they won't be installing UK passport controls in each country? To reduce costs, it would be better to have the passport control on arrival in London. This eliminates the need to have UKBA accommodated abroad.
James Hutton, Oxford, UK
Making travel from London to the continent should be made easier. In the future, the first phase of HS2 should allow direct travel from Birmingham to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, for example, without changing in London.
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, England
This arises because our continueing "little Englander" mentality where we insist on full border controls at both ends which have lead to Eurostar services in Paris having their own segregated area while even at the height of the cold war trains from Moscow arrived alongside trains from the rest of Europe and France.
If HS2 is to work properly then we will need to sort out how international trains will run within Britain first!!
Afterall the Channel Tunnel was built on the promise of Regional Eurostars and international overnight services neither of which have yet happened.
The fact that eurostar trains were used on the London to Leeds service shows there are no big problems to prevent these trains physically using the network.
Perhaps instead of going ahead with HS2 a much better investment would be to extend HS1 from east London north to the ECML and remove the Welwyn bottleneck at the same time. This would allow the Javelin trains to provide a high speed service followed by Eurostar trains to Leeds once Leeds Station has been upgraded for international services.
The irony may soon be that DB will control both German railways and the ECML but not be allowed to run a through service with ICE trains!