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December 31

Why cancel the entire Eurostar service?

Something in the news struck me as odd yesterday, and maybe some of our British contributors can enlighten me.

It was was reported that the tunnel in High Speed 1 passing under the Thames was flooded and therefore all Eurostar trains between the UK and the Continent were cancelled. 41 long and full trains cancelled, thousands of travellers stuck in London, Paris and Brussels. I know that the pickup shoes for third rail electrification needed to run on the conventional lines in SE England have been removed from the Eurostar trains, so running to one of the stations in South London is no longer an option (the first time I used Eurostar it still ran to Waterloo Station). But Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International (walking distance from Northfleet station) could still be reached from the Channel Tunnel, or so it appeared from the news. Why did they not run the Eurostar trains to one of those stations, and use local trains or even buses to connect to central London? From the names of those stations, I'd expect that border check facilities are at least available, even if not permanently staffed. PiusImpavidus (talk) 14:55, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Very good question, I asked my wife that last night whilst watching the news. I do know that Ashford has been run down and very few (or no) Eurostars stop there, much to the disgust of the local residents who have to travel to London in order to come back! Martin of Sheffield (talk) 15:36, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I would suspect reasons would include 1) Where are the units? (If at Temple Mills then they are affected by the flood) and, where do they need to go to be prepared between journeys? 2) Where are the staff? Can you get Eurostar and border staff to Ashford/Ebbsfleet in sufficient numbers and in the timescale needed? 3) Even if you can get the units and the staff to Ashford or Ebbsfleet, what are the facilities like? They've been mothballed since 2020. DuncanHill (talk) 15:47, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. Yes, any units at the Temple Mills depot would be useless. I suppose some units would have spend the night in Paris or Brussels, but fewer units than usual would be available. Maybe enough to run a service from Ashford to Lille? But if the facilities have been mothballed since 2020, I can imagine it could be difficult to put them back in service on such short notice. PiusImpavidus (talk) 19:34, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

DuncanHill's excellent answer might perhaps be supplemented by one other point. Since Brexit, there are now additional checks between the EU and UK. Eurostar has funded new facilities at St Pancras to accommodate them, but still has to leave about 30% of seats empty because there is not enough space nor enough border officials to check a whole train. Since Eurostar service to Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International was suspended before Brexit, those station have never had facilities for the new checks. Although Eurostar pays for them, the arrangements would have to be implemented by the Home Office. Both its own leadership and academics have questioned whether the Home Office's border operations are "fit for purpose", so it seems unlikely that they could or would set up new border controls in the remaining hours of the Saturday of a holiday weekend. It took more than two years to get new border controls implemented at Amsterdam; I seem to remember Nigel Harris attributed this to Home Office funding constraints, but he has deleted all his tweets so I may have misremembered. Matt's talk 22:37, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Alright, thanks. It appears that Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International are misnomers now, as those station don't really support international trains any longer. It's a pity that all those border formalities are needed. In Benelux, Germany, France etc. it's much easier to improvise some solution. The Frankfurt–Amsterdam trains get frequently rerouted from their usual Emmerich border crossing to the Venlo border crossing, with an additional call at a station that normally doesn't see any international trains. PiusImpavidus (talk) 11:51, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The border formalities are needed because politicians have decided they are needed. I doubt there is evidence that the net effect is positive. --Lambiam 14:13, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Coastal white-tailed sea-eagles

I learned apparently white-tailed sea-eagles were reintroduced to southwestern Ireland and some have expanded throughout the coast. Is there a map that actually says that, because the one on Wikipedia doesn't? 2600:6C44:627F:5865:D028:C3FF:FE4B:8D02 (talk) 19:42, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

How about this one? --Wrongfilter (talk) 20:20, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Bald eagle confusion

Once, while at a Raptor Education Group Inc, they had a bald eagle named Theo, which was a male. Even though it was a male it was huge! It appeared to be over a meter long, which is a large size for a male bald eagle in Wisconsin. I'm pretty sure it's a female. Am I right? 2600:6C44:627F:5865:D028:C3FF:FE4B:8D02 (talk) 20:19, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Contact details for Raptor Education Group Inc are [1]. A question about one of their birds should be asked there. --Wrongfilter (talk) 20:22, 31 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If they have already claimed it's a male, I doubt whether they will change their opinion based merely on the size it "appeared" to you. Shantavira|^{feed me} 09:35, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

On the other hand, the Raptor Education Group says Theo is female. [2] --jpgordon^{𝄢𝄆𝄐𝄇} 16:23, 1 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]