‘I’m not using Eurostar ever again’: Is it the end of the line for the Channel Tunnel service?

This year marks the 30th anniversary of Eurostar carrying passengers from London to Paris.

The first fare-paying passengers used the service to travel through the Channel Tunnel in November 1994.

As UK newspaper the Guardian reported at the time, “there was a cheer as the £24 million [€28 million] locomotive glided out of Waterloo, cheers as it dived into the tunnel at Folkestone and more cheers as it arrived a record 18 minutes later at Calais.”

Despite long delays during Channel Tunnel construction and a series of glitches during trial runs, Eurostar was hailed as history-making.

For years, it has been a cornerstone of European travel and Britain’s most convenient and comfortable gateway to the continent.

But recently, the company has been battling a series of challenges as Brexit, Covid, strikes and competitors threaten to derail operations.

So what is the future of Eurostar and has the visionary rail company reached the end of the track?

Brexit has been an agent of doom for Eurostar in myriad ways.

Following the UK’s exit from the EU, there is now a requirement to stamp British passports at borders. At London’s St Pancras Station, where the Eurostar departs, this has become a time-consuming operation.

Initially, these rules exacerbated by a lack of staff meant that passengers could not be boarded in time.

As such, although the first train of the day between London and Paris has the capacity to carry 900 passengers, Eurostar had to cap ticket sales at 550, meaning 350 seats were going unsold.

To combat this, Eurostar rolled out a ‘SmartCheck’ system last summer which uses facial biometric data to replace the manual UK exit checks - although for now it is just available to Eurostar’s Business Premier and Carte Blanche passengers.