Minimum connection time at Lille Europe
 

Hello,

i am desperately trying to work an itinerary so that i can pick up a rental car at Ebsfleet International on Saturday 30JUly11 . The car rental office office closes at one. We are coming from Aix en Provence and the only connections that i can find are train 5144 dep Aix at 0725, arr Lille 1157, and depart Eurostar at 1205. Is this feasible or is there no way of making this connection. I have never been to Lille so i have no idea of the station size or layout.

Many many thanks...i am desperate

Hilmel,

You are of course aware of the fact that SNCF does NOT offer this travel option; a transfer time of 7 minutes at Lille is far too short. Even business premier ticket holders must check in 10 minutes, standard class passengers 30 minutes before departure at the latest.

You may want to revise your travel plans. Both EasyJet and British Airways offer reasonably-priced flights from Marseilles to London Gatwick.

Depending on the travel arrangements you have made so far, there seem to be two options: Travel on july 30 by air and pick up your car at Gatwick or travel by rail on july 29.

Hope this helps.

Phil.

Thanks Phil,
i have just found another train dep Aix 0604 and arrive Lille 1103 to connect with Eurostar at 1205. Is this enough time?

I believe you need to check in at Eurostar 30 mins before your departure - so as long as the train gets to Lille on time you should be fine. You need to go through security and passport control before you are able to board the Eurostar so thats why you need more time.

Official check-in is a minimum of 30 minutes. In reality, they accept people until 15 minutes before departure. At least that's how they do it in Paris, because I hear the announcements all the time about "final call for check-in" for the Eurostar leaving 15 minutes later.

In any case the Lille Europa station is just a few platforms and thus easy to manage if that is part of the question - not a humungous Gare like Gare du Nord in Paris.