According to the company’s notice, this route will be discontinued beginning June 5 of next year.
Eurostar noted that this decision was made as part of attempts to strengthen the emphasis on “major highways” after the country recovered from the pandemic and as it monitored the plans for the new entrance and departure regulations for the European Union.
Additionally, Eurostar indicated that it will “re-examine possibilities” for 2024 the following year.
Eurostar states that direct trains between London St Pancras International and Marne-la-Vallee, a station east of the French capital near Disneyland Paris, take two hours and twenty-four minutes.
Passengers will be required to transfer in Paris or Lille as a result of the service stoppage. It has been running since 1996, with a brief interruption during the height of the COVID restrictions.
Commenting on this move, the chief executive officer of Advantage Travel Partnership, Julia Lo Bue-Said, opined that the addition of direct trains from the United Kingdom to Disneyland Paris would be unsatisfactory to many.
She stated, “Taking young ones to the famous park in France has been a highlight for thousands of British families for many years. Eurostar has suggested that they have taken this decision based on the logistical implications of Brexit, which doesn’t surprise me,”
Eurostar has stated that it is recovering from the financial impact of the pandemic and is following 2023 EU plans to tighten admission requirements. Immigrants entering the EU from outside the bloc and the Schengen area will now have their fingerprints scanned and photographs taken for inclusion in a database.
Concurrently, it has been confirmed that the same rules will also apply to travelers from the United Kingdom.
A Eurostar representative stated; “Whilst we continue to recover financially from the pandemic and monitor developments in the proposed EU Entry-Exit system, we need to focus on our core routes to ensure we can continue to provide the high level of service and experience that our customers rightly expect.”
In addition, travel limitations related to COVID-19 have severely affected Eurostat, and the insurer secured a £250 million bailout from banks and investors last year.
In contrast, Eurostar warned in 2019 that it was “fighting for life” due to a 95 per cent decline in demand.