Boarding change will improve travel to France from London via Eurostar
It is first step in increasing capacity for international travellers at St Pancras station
The move aims to free up space in the crowded departure lounge
Sergii Figurnyi/Shutterstock
Passengers taking the Eurostar from London St Pancras are now able to board their trains earlier in a bid to reduce overcrowding at the station.
Travellers will be able to enter the train 30 minutes prior to its departure (currently 15-20 minutes) which will help make more space in the station’s departure lounge for incoming passengers.
The change “gives a good sense of flow to the customer. It’s becoming a seamless, smooth experience,” said chief safety and station officer at Eurostar, Simon Lejeune (quoted in The Standard).
“Passengers appreciate boarding a little earlier,” he added.
The change does not affect arrival times to the station, which should be around 75 minutes before your scheduled departure time.
It is part of the operator’s wider plans to nearly triple the number of passengers the station can handle per hour from 1,800 to 5,000.
It will do this via a three phase project lasting into the 2030s. This includes a £60 (€70) million expansion to the area of the station from where Eurostar services depart.
By 2040, an expected 35 million international rail passengers will depart from the station annually, as opposed to 11 million currently.
So far it has been a good year for the operator, which reports it has seen passenger numbers increase by more than 4% compared to the same period last year.
Twice this year records for the number of weekly passengers have been set, seeing a high of some 136,000.
Eurostar may no longer be the only operator to use the international part of the station however, as several groups including Virgin are looking to run services between London and mainland Europe.
