Since 1994, the Eurostar has been letting Londoners swerve the faff of checked luggage, liquid limits and the extra hassle of transferring to and from the airport when travelling to top European cities. You can get from the Big Smoke to Brussels, Paris and Amsterdam in just a few hours – less than the time it takes to cross the border into Scotland.
Now, Eurostar is adding another European hot spot to its line-up of direct international destinations from. Yep, the cross-Channel train line has announced plans to introduce direct journeys between London and Switzerland.
Currently, the easiest way to travel between the two countries by rail is by getting the Eurostar from London St Pancras to Paris and changing to a TGV Lyria train to Zurich. The trip takes over seven hours.
The new direct route would whittle the journey time down to five hours if you’re heading to Basel, adding an extra half hour to get to Geneva. The trains will end up in Zurich six hours after leaving London.
If you’re thinking ‘sounds good, so when will we be able to book direct Eurostar trains to Switzerland?’, the short answer is: not quite yet. Eurostar has just signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and French SNCF Voyageurs, meaning the three parties have agreed to try and establish a direct connection between London and the three Swiss cities.
Once the ink is dry, the next step will be to work through the entry formalities, establish infrastructure changes and get intergovernmental agreements for the plans. If everything goes smoothly, Eurostar is predicting that the new route could be up and running by the 2030s. If the plans come to fruition, it would be the first time a direct train has connected Switzerland and the UK.
Switzerland is just one of several places that Eurostar is planning to offer direct routes to from London St Pancras. Direct journeys to Frankfurt in Germany and Milan in Italy are also on the cards in the near future.
Planning a trip? Check out Time Out’s list of 40 fun things to do in Switzerland.
Did you see that one of London’s best weekend trips just got a brand new train service – with tickets from just £30?
Plus: the world’s longest flight will take off from the UK next year.
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