Posted on May 21, 2008 by Fiona Hilliard

Eurostar passengers hoping to catch a connecting train in France tonight are in for a long wait as a 48-hour strike takes place across the country.  Although Eurostar’s own services will operate to schedule, onward connections by Metro/Underground and buses are due to be severely affected.

All in all, it hasn’t been a good week for Eurostar passengers.  On Tuesday, services between the UK and Brussels were hit by a 24-hour strike by Belgian railway workers.  Brussels Midi station and the all of the Belgian rail network was closed so that there were no services operating between Lille and Brussels Midi Station.  All high-speed rail connections on Thalys or ICE from Brussels to destinations in France, the Netherlands and Germany were also cancelled.

Eurostar customers aren’t the only ones to be let down by public transport services in recent times.  Just last week, hundreds of Terravision customers were left high and dry when police in Rome impounded their entire fleet of buses.  

In this climate of instability, it’s easy to see why travellers are increasingly turning to car hire.  Not only are they avoiding the stress and uncertainty of hanging around packed train stations and airports for hours, they’re also getting to their destinations safely and swiftly.