Public sector strike action in France will not affect passengers travelling to Paris in time for Saturday”s Rugby World Cup final between England and South Africa.
Eurostar says that despite having to cancel several services this week, it is confident that everyone who has booked rail tickets will get to the Stade de France in Paris on time.
”We knew about the strike from last week and as soon as we were aware which trains would be cancelled, we stopped sales for those services,” a Eurostar spokeswoman told ABTN. ”We are able to accommodate people on other trains ” those who have booked will be able to travel to the final.”
Eurostar will add six extra inbound and outbound services as unprecedented demand for travel to Paris occurs for the second weekend in succession. Last Saturday pitted England against France in the semi-final and, given the huge number of French ex-patriates now living in London, load factor was extremely high.
”The surge of calls was amazing for the semi-finals and as soon as the final whistle went, we had [another] huge surge,” added the spokeswoman.
Travellers should also be aware that on Thursday there will be no services on the Paris urban transport network ” including the Metro ” while a very limited number of high-speed TGV trains will run.
The following Eurostar services will be cancelled on Thursday, 18 October ” other services may be subject to delay or possible short notice cancellation.
06:22 Paris ” London Waterloo
17:43 Paris ” London Waterloo
09:09 Waterloo ” Paris
16:12 London Waterloo ” Paris
17:40 London Waterloo ” Paris
16:39 London Waterloo ” Brussels
No services will call at Calais-Frethun throughout the day.
Services will only call at Lille Europe station between 10.00 and 19.00 (French time) ” outside these times no eurostar trains will arrive/depart from the station.
The following services will not call at Lille Europe station.
07:05 Brussels ” Lille” London Waterloo
18:59 Brussels ” Lille ” London Waterloo
20:28 Brussels ” Lille ” London Waterloo
16:39 London ” Lille ” Brussels
18:11 London ” Lille” Brussels
19:13 London ” Lille” Brussels.
The following four Eurostar services will be cancelled on Friday 19 October:
06:.22 Paris - London Waterloo
16:39 London Waterloo ” Brussels
07:05 Brussels ” London Waterloo
17:05 Brussels ” London Waterloo