Eurostar this morning dispatched its first dedicated ‘Snow’ service of the winter season, leaving London St Pancras at 09:01 bound for Bourg-Saint-Maurice with hundreds of British skiers and seasonal workers on board. The weekly Saturday train, which returns on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, will operate until 28 March 2026, offering a lower-carbon alternative to short-haul flights into Geneva, Lyon or Chambery.
The timetable involves a simple platform transfer at Lille-Europe before a through carriage continues south, arriving in the Tarentaise valley at 17:45 with intermediate stops for Moûtiers (Three Valleys), Aime-la-Plagne and Landry (Les Arcs). Journey time door-to-door is just over eight hours—comparable to flying once airport dwell times and mountain transfers are included—and passengers may bring skis at no extra cost.
Rail-friendly tour operators have reported load factors above 85 % on peak-season dates, citing corporate sustainability policies and the growing popularity of “work-from-resort” packages that allow staff to log on from chalets during the week and ski at weekends. Business travellers with European meetings are also combining client visits in Lyon or Grenoble with a weekend on the slopes, taking advantage of Eurostar’s flexible return options.
![Eurostar ‘Snow’ train makes inaugural 2025-26 run from London to the French Alps]()
Eurostar chief commercial officer Géraldine Ray said the service supports the operator’s target of carrying 30 million passengers per year by 2030 while cutting per-capita emissions by 50 %. The firm is lobbying for a customs and security agreement that would allow direct London-Alps trains without the Lille transfer; talks with UK and French authorities are ongoing.
Before booking, travellers who have not recently checked their passport’s post-Brexit validity or who may require a Schengen visa can use VisaHQ’s online service for fast document verification and application support. The platform’s UK portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) offers step-by-step guidance and corporate dashboards that simplify compliance for mobility managers sending staff to France or onward across the EU.
For mobility teams the relaunch means they can route employees to Alpine project sites—common in the construction and renewables sectors—without relying on congested winter airports. Employers should update travel policies to include Eurostar Snow in preferred-carrier lists, note that Saturday outbound seats start at £99 one-way, and remind staff that passport validity rules post-Brexit still apply.
The timetable involves a simple platform transfer at Lille-Europe before a through carriage continues south, arriving in the Tarentaise valley at 17:45 with intermediate stops for Moûtiers (Three Valleys), Aime-la-Plagne and Landry (Les Arcs). Journey time door-to-door is just over eight hours—comparable to flying once airport dwell times and mountain transfers are included—and passengers may bring skis at no extra cost.
Rail-friendly tour operators have reported load factors above 85 % on peak-season dates, citing corporate sustainability policies and the growing popularity of “work-from-resort” packages that allow staff to log on from chalets during the week and ski at weekends. Business travellers with European meetings are also combining client visits in Lyon or Grenoble with a weekend on the slopes, taking advantage of Eurostar’s flexible return options.
Eurostar chief commercial officer Géraldine Ray said the service supports the operator’s target of carrying 30 million passengers per year by 2030 while cutting per-capita emissions by 50 %. The firm is lobbying for a customs and security agreement that would allow direct London-Alps trains without the Lille transfer; talks with UK and French authorities are ongoing.
Before booking, travellers who have not recently checked their passport’s post-Brexit validity or who may require a Schengen visa can use VisaHQ’s online service for fast document verification and application support. The platform’s UK portal (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) offers step-by-step guidance and corporate dashboards that simplify compliance for mobility managers sending staff to France or onward across the EU.
For mobility teams the relaunch means they can route employees to Alpine project sites—common in the construction and renewables sectors—without relying on congested winter airports. Employers should update travel policies to include Eurostar Snow in preferred-carrier lists, note that Saturday outbound seats start at £99 one-way, and remind staff that passport validity rules post-Brexit still apply.
