Travel Question: How long should I leave for my Eurostar connection?

Q I know you have written about minimum connecting times at airports – but I want to know about rail stations. How much time should I allow between Eurostar and domestic rail services (specifically East Midlands Trains)? I arrive at 9.33pm on Eurostar and I’m looking to travel on to Leicester on the 10pm departure. I was wondering if you would class this as adequate time to make my way across the station?

Josh N

A My rule for connecting to trains from Eurostar is: assume the train from Brussels or Paris will arrive 15 minutes late; in my experience it is usually up to 10 minutes behind schedule. Further assume that there will be some congestion getting off the train and descending through the absurd labyrinth beneath the platforms to the exit. That’s another 10 minutes. You then turn right and take the escalator back up to platform level and through the gates to the East Midlands Trains area. To be on the safe side, allow five minutes for this last part, making it half an hour.

In your case, with 27 minutes, I would certainly take the chance. If the Eurostar train is delayed significantly, or you get caught in one of the occasional UK Border Force “sweeps”, don’t panic. In my experience if you can demonstrate to station or train staff that you had allowed a reasonable connecting time, but your inbound train was significantly delayed, then they will endorse your ticket to travel on a later service without penalty.

However, there is one more possibility. If the next Leicester train after the 10pm is cheaper (as very late evening services often are), then I would book on that and spend the savings in the excellent Betjeman Arms pub inside St Pancras station.

Every day our travel correspondent Simon Calder tackles a reader’s question. Just email yours to s@hols.tv or tweet @simoncalder