High-speed rail company Eurostar has cancelled its direct
services to the South of France for the remainder of the summer due to low
demand caused by the coronavirus and difficulties in enforcing new protection
measures on the longer journeys.
Eurostar introduced a facemask requirement for all
passengers in May and has increased its cleaning procedures, including checking
water tank levels more often to ensure passengers can wash their hands
frequently throughout their journey and disinfecting high-touch areas such as
tables, handles and grab bars more often.
The company said these procedures are “more challenging to
maintain on long-distance routes” such as those to Lyon, Avignon and
Marseilles, which were meant to commence in May but will no longer be offered
in 2020 or 2021. Passengers wishing to travel to these destinations can still
take a Eurostar service to Lille or Paris and transfer to a connecting TGV
train.
In a statement, Eurostar said: “As we restart our service,
we are focusing on our timetable on our routes between capital cities, which
have the highest demand from customers at the moment and shorter journey times.”
Eurostar is currently offering a reduced timetable between
London, Paris and Brussels but hopes to restart its services to Amsterdam,
Rotterdam, Calais, Marne La Vallee, Lille, Ashford and Ebbsfleet from 8 July.