Filthy Eurostar trains

[jon0844]

The trains are looking tired inside, but they're far from terrible, but the exterior has looked awful for years.

They looked tired and the livery was already peeling off or damaged (and not fixed) when I was at St Pancras with the other 'testers' back in November 2007. That's seven years ago now (how time flies) and even if the company doing the internal refurbishment went out of business, I'm surprised they couldn't apply a new livery to all of the trains already.

But the general feeling of quality still seems to carry through even in standard premier, and this is down to the staff and is what makes the journey.

I wouldn't stop using Eurostar, even if I am a little disappointed that standard premier is nothing like as good as it once was. I might sound rather pompous, but I've only travelled in ordinary standard class on Eurostar once compared to many trips in first class/standard premier - and that was back when it launched and I just did a day trip to Brussels to try it out.

 

[HSTEd]

You never see a dirty ICE - and rarely a dirty TGV !

If you think Eurostar's stock use is light you ain't seen SNCFs....

TGVs that do one or two round trips a day and spend most of it sitting in a carriage siding.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Could a carriage wash be installed so that all trains entering the depot have to pass through it on their way back to the depot?

 

[Clip]

You never see a dirty ICE - and rarely a dirty TGV !

Funny then how I travelled on two of them the other weekend.

 

[Bletchleyite]

But the general feeling of quality still seems to carry through even in standard premier, and this is down to the staff and is what makes the journey.

I guess we differ in our expectations, then. To me a premium-class journey (i.e. anything except Standard) is made by a number of things - and a core one is that the train is not sloppy in its presentation. By that I mean everything works and it is not dirty (including ground in dirt). Dirt in slightly awkward but accesssible places e.g. on the windowsill between seats is particularly sloppy as it shows a lazy or underspecified cleaning service.

My expectations would be a bit lower in Standard, though such things still give a poor impression.

To me, good staff only compensate partly for this, as on a train journey I mostly prefer to be left alone, and the main thing I get from paying for a premium class is a higher level of comfort. (That's why I like the European approach that it's 1.5 or 1.6* the relevant fare but all you get is the extra comfort). Though bad staff will ruin a journey in any class, e.g. having to argue about a ticket that is definitely valid.

Neil

 

[GNER 373]

I think it's fair to say we all agree that the new livery and branding along with the newly designed interiors are well needed and will hopefully propel Eurostar to being the premier rail travel the UK has to offer. I do agree it's long needed and maybe the cleanliness has slipped in recent years due to the fact they were already looking at the refurb and taking their eye of the ball where keeping them in a decent state wasn't a priority.

I think we'll see a better Eurostar all round with new menus, better staffing and better business premier (or whatever they call it now).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think we'll see a better Eurostar all round with new menus, better staffing and better business premier (or whatever they call it now).

I do hope so. And I do like ICE derivatives far more than I like TGV derivatives. Big, spacious and comfortable. I look forward to giving them a go at some point.

Neil

 

[507 001]

A few years ago, the French (Le Landy?) based sets always seemed to be dirtier than the North Pole based sets.

These days both seem to be just as dirty.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

The whole fleet is allocated to Temple Mills these days isn't it?