Landmark Day for Green Travel

On 14 November Friends of the Earth executive director Tony Juniper joined Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown in naming the first Paris-bound train - Tread Lightly - to leave the newly re-opened St Pancras International station. Friends of the Earth hailed the new high-speed service as a "landmark day for green travel."

Tony Juniper said this was “the first step towards making short-haul flights a thing of the past. Eurostar shows that short-haul rail travel is not only better for the environment than flying, but that it can also be quicker, easier and more comfortable as well.

"The Government should now do all it can to encourage people to switch from planes to trains for the short distances between Europe's great cities. It must include emissions from aircraft in its proposed climate change law. We need a revolution in the way we travel in order to tackle climate change, and rail is the way forward."

In October Friends of the Earth and Eurostar launched a partnership which called on the Government to strengthen its proposals for a new climate change law, and to do more to support low-carbon travel solutions, such as switching from planes to greener trains.

Last month, In a YouGov survey commissioned by FoE and Eurostar, almost three-quarters (73 per cent) of the British adult population said that, in comparing train, plane and car, the train was the greenest form of transport for travel to mainland Europe and for longer distance journeys in Britain.

Half (50 per cent) thought environment concerns would be more influential in affecting their choice of travel in future, compared with today. Only three per cent thought it would be less influential.

Greenpeace also welcomed the new high speed rail link to Europe. Climbers scaled the front of St Pancras station to hang a huge banner proclaiming 'YES'. The banner's strap line was "PS Gordon - no need for that third runway".

However cyclists were not so happy about the new station, and held a demonstration highlighting the lack of safe access to and from the station for cyclists, the absence of cycle stands to park bikes and the refusal of Eurostar to let customers take their bikes on the same train which they are travelling on. Campaigners say this undermines Eurostar's new green carbon-neutral image.
Eurostar have now promised to enable customers to reserve cycles onto the same train that they are travelling on rather than the current “within 24 hours” by early 2008, becoming the first high speed service in Europe to permit cycles on all its trains.

Koy Thomson, Chief Executive of LCC, said: “If Eurostar presents itself as the modern low-carbon alternative to air travel, it must think beyond its stations and help customers make sustainable choices.”

For Eurostar information and tickets go to www.eurostar.com , or call 08705 186 186

For more on the LCC protest and other cycling matters go to www.lcc.org.uk