The Ticket Collector

Goodbye Waterloo - Eurostar

The last service departed from London Waterloo International last night. Vistors to Waterloo were treated to a musical spectacle by Blazing Fire, before Lily Allen arrived to wish us farewell to Waterloo International.

From pop to jazz in the terminal concourse, as the Centre for Young Musicians followed up with a variety of talented youths performing jazz songs to entertain the passengers checking in for the final two trains to Paris and Brussels. As the rope was placed across check-in to close, a lone trumpter played a solo elegy for the station.

The press (evening standard/metro/london lite) have already started to jump on the bandwagon as to what will happen to the old Eurostar platform.

The old international platforms will be mothballed at a cost of £500,000 a year however just £5m is needed to be spent to bring them into use for commuter and other services run by train operators such as South West Trains.

Help Eurostar prepare for the big day, and get free travel.

Help us prepare for the big day and get free travel on Eurostar

On 14th November 2007, Eurostar will begin running train services to and from Paris and Brussels on the new high speed line from St Pancras International. The last services in and out of London Waterloo International will be on 13th November. On 19th November we will open our brand new station in North Kent, Ebbsfleet International.

To ensure that services from the our magnificent new stations run as smoothly as possible we are planning a period of intensive testing and to help create a realistic environment we would like as many people as possible to act as travellers in the various test scenarios.

If you interested in participating as a passenger in one of these test days and to be one of the first to see the new stations you just need to register your details and we’ll let you know where and when to come along.

You will be acting as a typical traveller – picking up tickets, going through check-in, security and passport control, boarding and departure and finally arrival – up to 3 times in one day.

Testing will take place on the following dates:

Tuesday 30th October,
Wednesday 31st October,
Thursday 1st November,
Wednesday 7th November and
Thursday 8th November.

You will only need to be available for one of these days. You will need to arrive at St Pancras some time between 08:30 and 11:30 and will be required for somewhere between 5 and 6 hours.

Although trains will not be going through Eurotunnel (they will either turn round outside St Pancras International or go to and return from Ebbsfleet International), all participants will need a passport/national ID card (valid for international travel).

Refreshments will be provided during the day, including lunch, and travel expenses will be reimbursed up to a limit of £25.

As well as the chance to take part in this unique phase of testing, participants will also get a voucher to be redeemed for a free standard class return ticket to Paris, Lille or Brussels on HS1 (terms and conditions will apply).

For the link to register etc, check out this link:

http://www.eurostar.com/UK/uk/leisure/travel_information/testing.jsp