Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 10:31:58 on
Wed, 24 Nov 2004, TP remarked:
You have missed the point. That is, the customer profile of Eurostar
passengers from the UK would indicate that there is an exceptionally
high proportion whose journeys originate in the SWT corridor.

That's because the SWT corridor is where so many 'movers and shakers'
choose to locate. It ain't called 'the stockbroker belt' for nowt.

St Pancras is not really a viable option for those people. Instead,
they will head around the M25 for Heathrow or Gatwick.

Isn't that why they are building a new E* station on the M25?


No, not really, because Ebbsfleet is positioned almost diametrically
opposite to the market we are discussing.

Faced with the options of St Pancras, Ebbsfleet, Heathrow and Gatwick
I think most of the SWT corridor executive types would take Heathrow
as their first choice, followed by Gatwick.

The big commercial mistake here is abandoning the easy, high value
full fare/first class customer base of the SWT corridor's movers and
shakers in favour of the £59 a time cheapskates who will allegedly
flock to St Pancras from points north.

I think Eurostar are committing a grievous error. At first the
abandonment seemed logical - concentrating all efforts at St Pancras
seems like a good idea, until you think about it.

Perhaps this decision is being forced on Eurostar because so few
passengers would choose to travel from St Pancras if Waterloo
International remained open. It is easy to see the flagship St
Pancras project becoming a seriously expensive commercial flop if the
far superior connections at Waterloo remained available.