I'm a huge fan of the cross-Channel rail service, Eurostar. So much so that, not only did I write most of my first novel Changing Trains on Eurostars, I also set the 'present day' part of the story onboard these trains.
Now, most of this all took place on the 'old' Eurostar trains, and a couple of years ago the company started rolling out a whole new train set. Oh dear!
This video review shows how the company somehow managed to strip out most of the old comfort and mystique and replaced it with rattly plastic, lots of glass, extremely bright lighting and poorly furnished interiors.
The designers are the same folks who usually make interiors for things like Ferrari cars - expensive and uncomfortable at the best of times - and they've clearly never travelled on trains.
I know it all sounds a bit moany, but as I said, I'm a huge fan and a very loyal customer of Eurostar, but sometimes your 'besties' just get it wrong. The company says it is aware of all the complaints and is addressing them.
One great thing that makes the new trains slightly more bearable is to turn off some of the cabin lights. When I travelled on one of the new trains to the UK just in time for Christmas 2017, our the train manager took the very cool initiative of turning off the interior sidelights. This simple measure transformed the feel of the cabin into a calm, softly lit oasis.
I wrote to Eurostar begging them to adopt this train manager's cost free initiative as a common standard - the cabin's are still well lit without the sidelights, so there's no health and safety issue - but I haven't heard back from them yet.
Alors!
Now, most of this all took place on the 'old' Eurostar trains, and a couple of years ago the company started rolling out a whole new train set. Oh dear!
This video review shows how the company somehow managed to strip out most of the old comfort and mystique and replaced it with rattly plastic, lots of glass, extremely bright lighting and poorly furnished interiors.
The designers are the same folks who usually make interiors for things like Ferrari cars - expensive and uncomfortable at the best of times - and they've clearly never travelled on trains.
I know it all sounds a bit moany, but as I said, I'm a huge fan and a very loyal customer of Eurostar, but sometimes your 'besties' just get it wrong. The company says it is aware of all the complaints and is addressing them.
One great thing that makes the new trains slightly more bearable is to turn off some of the cabin lights. When I travelled on one of the new trains to the UK just in time for Christmas 2017, our the train manager took the very cool initiative of turning off the interior sidelights. This simple measure transformed the feel of the cabin into a calm, softly lit oasis.
I wrote to Eurostar begging them to adopt this train manager's cost free initiative as a common standard - the cabin's are still well lit without the sidelights, so there's no health and safety issue - but I haven't heard back from them yet.
Alors!
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