Much speedier trips on Eurostar could be in the offing as the operator has announced plans to spend £700 million on the redesign of its fleet and in investment of ten new trains that could reduce London to Paris journey times.

The move is privately funded by the operator together with cash and bank financing. The project will start next year and will see rolling stock receive a makeover by Italian designers Pininfarina.

The new Eurostar e3202 trains will be ‘interoperable’ which means they can operate across the European high speed rail network and provide non-stop services between London and a number of European destinations.

The trains will have a fifth larger capacity than current Eurostar trains and be able to take 900 passengers plus luggage. The train will be able to travel up to 200mph which will reduce the journey time between London and Paris to around the two hours mark, the London to Amsterdam journey to under four hours, and London to Geneva to about five hours.

French workers started a national strike today which is likely to disrupt flights between France and the UK.

Flights to other destinations might also be affected so passengers should check the status of their flights before leaving for the airport.

French workers are striking in protest to government plans to raise the retirement age and increase employee contributions. The strike is expected to last until 5am on Wednesday.

Eurostar services to and from France should continue as normal, however passengers might not be able to connect to or from other train services within France. In this case, Eurostar are giving passengers the opportunity to postpone their journey and exchange tickets.

Chambery Picture by Flickr User guymoll

The British AirwaysCityFlyer subsidiary will operate new route between London City Airport and the French Alps gateways Chambery. The service will run four times a week from 18th December until the end of March 2011, using new Embraer 190 aircraft.

Fares start from £59 one-way including taxes.

BA CityFlyer commercial manager Luke Hayhoe said: “Our schedule is ideally set up to give our customers the opportunity to spend a long weekend, a full week, or even longer, skiing on some of the world’s best slopes and resorts.

“Only a few short hours after taking off from London’s Docklands, our customers can be in a winter wonderland of 120 ski resorts all set amidst the majesty and splendour of the French and Swiss Alps.”

If that wasn’t a persuasive enough image to inspire you to hop on a plane, I’m not sure what is!

The Transport Minister in France, Dominique Bussereau, has asked the French civil aviation authority to investigate allegations that Easyjet have not let disabled passengers to fly without a travel companion.

In a statement on the French transport ministry’s website, Bussereau said the airline should not be allowed to “hide behind safety regulations”.

He said: “It must implement solutions adapted to each case, as most companies do. Otherwise it must be sanctioned with the greatest severity.”

EasyJet have defended themselves by saying it operates the same policy as many European airlines.

 ”European safety regulations require that all passengers are able to evacuate an aircraft within 90 seconds and therefore we require that some passengers with reduced mobility have a travel companion.

“We are already in discussion with the French Government to find a workable solution for our passengers without compromising safety.” said Corporate affairs manager of Easyjet, Andrew McConnell.

Have any readers of this blog with reduced mobility encountered any problems with flying with Easyjet without a companion? Is it a fair rule or does it unfairly limit freedom to travel independently? Perhaps an option would be for airlines that enforce this rule to dedicate one member of cabin crew to a passenger with reduced mobility to help them to evacuate in a case of emergency?

Eurolines, part of the National Express group, has expanded its services between London and Paris. It has launched a new 11am departure from Victoria coach station which brings the number of coach operator trips a day to eight to the French capital.

To celebrate Eurolines is offering 1,000 tickets at a discounted fare of £15 one-way until 16th September.

Other destinations that Eurolines covers are Amsterdam, Brussels, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Prague, The Baltics and Poland.

Fancy a cheap jaunt to Paris? Picture by Flickr User Timothy E Baldwin

Eurostar has put on 20 extra trains during August to meet a rush for seats to Paris.  There will be 4 additional services each weekend, for which tickets went on sale today – each of the additional 15,000 seats are priced at £69 return.

The train operator saw a 6 per cent increase in demand during the first half of this year, pushing revenues up 18 per cent to £404 million. The rise in demand was partly due to the ash crisis, but Eurostar claimed it was also down to an increase in the business market and a strengthening of business and leisure travel.

Chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “Over the last six months, we have delivered strong growth in both business and leisure bookings.

“As the economic environment has strengthened we have seen an uplift in the business market and an overall increase in the number of passengers travelling.

“Forward bookings are looking strong and with the increasing appetite for high speed rail travel in Europe, the trend looks set to continue.”

Ferry operators have been reaping the benefits of the recent ash-cloud chaos that grounded so many planes recently; however they are facing their own devastating blow as three major alcohol retailers withdraw from Calais.

The weekend’s newspapers reported that Sainsburys is to close its Calais Wine Store at the end of this month, Tesco is in consultation with staff about the closure of its Tesco Vins Plus site and Oddbins Calais, which is already closed, is not going to renew their franchise deal.

Majestic Wine had a disappointing 28% fall in sales for the financial year end in its three French stores but will remain open. Retailers have blamed the weak pound against the euro and cheaper UK prices for alcohol for the falls in sales.

However, ferry operators remain upbeat; a spokesman for Brittany Ferries said people would still be drawn by cheaper onboard prices of alcohol “for Brittany Ferries the market for people who take a day trip to France is still strong – last year we carried 125,000 such passengers plus 3000 shoppers to Spain.

“Whilst their sole purpose may not be to buy booze, as the “mini-cruise” experience on our longer routes is an attraction in itself, many take advantage of the bargain wine prices on board and at the numerous wine warehouses that still exist at our ports.”

If you’re going on such a little cruise and fancy a stop off in France or Spain, check out the best prices for quality villas at our main website and to make life a little easier, you can arrange for quick and easy transfers to your holiday villa from your arrival point with VaVroom.