European Railroad Discussion > A quick jaunt from London to Paris

A recent trip to Spain and Portugal started with a trip on the Eurostar from London to Paris. The Eurostar operates out of St. Pancras station which is adjacent to King's Cross station.

1. Now that's a train station. St. Pancras.

2. A portion of the King's Cross train shed with two LNER Azumas, a not sure, and what may have been a Grand Central, an operator I had not seen before.

3. The modern attachment to King's Cross. The color on the ceiling changes.

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The Eurostar operates into Gare Nord (north station) in Paris after which point one needs to make their way to the south side of Paris to get to Gare Montparnasse, a brutalist-style concrete station akin to a parking garage. Photos from May 10, 2026. I am not going to try to identify the various trainsets, all modern electric things.

4. I understand TGV (train a grande vitesse) but am less sure about inOui other than that Oui is 'yes' in French. Pretty sure those are COVID circles on the platform.

5. A regional (commuter?) train of the national railway SNCF.

6. Another TGV arrives minus the inOui label but with the SNCF label.

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7. The one on the left says SNCF Voyageurs while the one on the right looks older and bit worse for wear.

8. When a train would arrive a torrent of people would detrain for quite awhile, and similar for loading since the gate would not open until just before the scheduled departure.

9. And then they were gone. I can almost understand "OUIGO" which would pronounce as "We Go" and translate as "Yes Go."

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Nice.  What is normal travel time on these trains between the two cities?

NMlurker Wrote:
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> 4. I understand TGV (train a grande vitesse) but
> am less sure about inOui other than that Oui is
> 'yes' in French. 

From Wikipedia: "TGV inOui is SNCF's premium high-speed rail service. The name inOui was chosen because it sounds like the French word inouï meaning "extraordinary" (or more literally, "unheard of")."

boejoe Wrote:
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> Nice.  What is normal travel time on these trains
> between the two cities?

Our quoted times were:
Depart London at 9:31 AM
Arrive Paris 12:53 PM (one hour time change)
So about 2 1/2 hours
Boarding is somewhat closer to an airport experience (security) and you are crossing from England (non-EU) into the EU so there is immigration stuff.  Trains appeared to be quite full.

railsmith Wrote:
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> From Wikipedia: "TGV inOui is SNCF's premium
> high-speed rail service. The name inOui was chosen
> because it sounds like the French word inouï
> meaning "extraordinary" (or more literally,
> "unheard of")."

It also sounds like 'ennui', meaning boredom.

Waybiller Wrote:
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> railsmith Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > From Wikipedia: "TGV inOui is SNCF's premium
> > high-speed rail service. The name inOui was
> chosen
> > because it sounds like the French word inouï
> > meaning "extraordinary" (or more literally,
> > "unheard of")."
>
> It also sounds like 'ennui', meaning boredom.

No French-speaker would make that mistake -- the sounds of "en" and "in" are quite distinct. And you can be sure that the French advertising agency that came up with the branding would have avoided any unintended meaning.

NMlurker Wrote:
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> 2. A portion of the King's Cross train shed with
> two LNER Azumas, a not sure, and what may have
> been a Grand Central, an operator I had not seen
> before.

Not sure; Driving Van Trailer of a Mk4 set with the class 91 at the country end