Jet vs. Train: Which is faster from London to Paris?

• Matt
  May 16th, 2008 at 10:50 am

  I took my first trip on the Eurostar r/t between London and Paris for work earlier this week. There really is no comparison to flying– no security queues, more space (in your seat, in the aisles, in the dining car), no stuffy/dry airplane air, no waiting for your bags, no need to get a ride to/from the airports, most seats have a power point, and EVDO/mobile phones work for much of the journey. I just wish there were more routes!

• Pol x
  May 16th, 2008 at 11:04 am

  Ah the Eurostar, it’s great.

  But then the only reason that flying is intolerable now id because the DHS and TSA demand that all flights comply to most of their agenda.

  We already had quite enough security in Europe after 75 years of terrorism we have never been as slack as the USA.We’ve had IRA UVF,INLA, UDA,ETA, Red Brigade, Red army faction , Badher Mienhoff.

  N ot to mention endless invasions and balkan wars.

  Were already very security conscious, but if you don’t do as the DHS say then you can’t fly your planes to the US.

• Adam Stanhope
  May 16th, 2008 at 11:06 am

  On behalf of the people of the United States, I’d like to apologize for our asinine post 9/11 security hysteria.

• leksvik
  May 16th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

  WHEN will the US build a high-speed train system already?

• Archbob
  May 16th, 2008 at 2:31 pm

  I prefer train. It wouldn’t work in the US though, the US is too big. Crossing the country by train would take days.

• Christophe
  May 16th, 2008 at 2:59 pm

  Strike in France? How common.. .;)

  @leksvik : $200 a barrel?

• iTim
  May 17th, 2008 at 7:33 am

  I did this trip between Paris and London last weekend, and it was such a stress-free ordeal! I’ll never fly to Paris again!

• Chad Cloman
  May 17th, 2008 at 7:50 am

  Summary: train beat airplane by 15 minutes. Train much less stressful than plane. There was, however, a transportation strike in Paris that skewed the results somewhat.

• ted
  May 17th, 2008 at 8:00 am

  There’s always a transportation strike somewhere on any given day in Europe.

  Couldn’t watch this video - after the first two seconds, it was “so what”?

• Dave Jones
  May 17th, 2008 at 9:33 am

  What a waste of time and money.

  You could just look up the departing and arrival schedules to see who would get there first. Who decided to bankroll these two reporters?

• rohin
  May 18th, 2008 at 9:35 am

  The Top Gear races (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_%28current_format%29#Epic_races  ) are lots of fun.

  Alba to London - Bugatti Veyron vs Cessna prop plane
  London to Verbier - Ferrari 612 Scaglietti vs plane, train and coach
  London to Montecarlo - Aston Martin DB9 vs Eurostar and TGV

  The cars tend to win, except in the race that’s most relevant to the average punter, car vs. bike vs. boat vs. public transport across London, where car came last!

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