Eurostar has begun selling through-fares to France and Belgium from 68 UK cities and towns.
The company teamed up with seven UK train operators so that travelers across Britain can book one ticket valid for their entire journey, including on London Underground connections from Euston and Marylebone to St Pancras International.
If passengers miss a connection due to a late-running service they will be able to travel on the next available Eurostar or domestic train with no extra charge.
Through-fare tickets are available up to 84 days in advance, and collected from self-service machines at the relevant local mainline station.
”This is the start of a big project to create easy access for people all over UK to the continent, and we certainly expect business travelers living or working in regions closer to London to use the through-fare facility,” said a Eurostar spokeswoman.
”Peterborough to Paris is four hours, from Leicester 4hr25mins, Bedford or Milton Keynes 3hr55mins, Luton 3hr40mins, Hatfield 3hr35mins, all including transfer times and the 30mins for Eurostar check-in ” though if you have a business premier ticket this is just ten minutes.
”And obviously you will be going from local stations right to centre of continental cities.
We”ve been seeing big increases in business passengers in the last couple of years, and expect to see that increase with the new faster, seamless service.”
The UK operators are Virgin Trains, First Capital Connect, National Express East Coast, East Midlands Trains, Chiltern Railways, Hull Trains and London Midland. With Eurostar, they will extend the range of through-fares to more British stations in mid-to-late 2008, and extend sales to more websites. They will also offer through-fares from continental towns and cities for business travelers heading inbound to Britain.
There are up to 17 daily connecting rail services to Paris and up to ten to Brussels, and through-fares will be valid to 75 connecting destinations in France and any station in Belgium. Standard class return fares to Paris and Brussels start from ”67 ($134).
Travelers without internet access can purchase tickets via Eurostar”s contact centre on 08705 186186.