France strikes: First Eurostar Ski Train of the season delayed due to walkout

At 5.19am British time on Saturday, when skiers should have been arriving in the Alps, they will instead be checking in at St Pancras

Eurostar ski trains trains depart London for the Alps (Eurostar International)

Hundreds of Christmas skiers planning to catch the first Eurostar train of the winter to the French Alps have been told they will lose a day on the slopes because of strikes by rail workers.

They are the latest group of travellers to be hit by the nationwide turmoil over plans by the French government to reform pensions.

While no Eurostar staff are involved in the dispute, signallers employed by SNCF (French Railways), who control the rail network, are stopping work.

Eurostar says it has “no option” but to delay the launch of its Ski Train from Friday evening, 20 December, until the following morning.

Hundreds of skiers and snowboarders are booked on Friday’s night train from London St Pancras, which normally leaves at 7.45pm. It is timed to run at high speed through the night and arrive in Bourg St-Maurice, deep in the Alps, at 6.16am.

The overnight Ski Train has long been a favourite for winter-sports enthusiasts.

It stops at stations along the valley of the Isère, serving resorts such as Courchevel, Les Arcs, Meribel and Tignes.

Overnighters enjoy an extra day on the mountains without paying for additional accommodation, and the pistes are quieter because so many other visitors are travelling.

Instead, they have been told to turn up at London St Pancras by 5.19am on Saturday morning and spend all day travelling.

Ticket holders, who have paid hundreds of pounds, are being told they should arrive at London St Pancras two hours before the rescheduled departure at 7.19am on Saturday.

They will arrive in Bourg St-Maurice at 4.29pm, 20 minutes before sunset.

The schedule for the day train on Saturday has also been moved an hour earlier. It will leave at 8.22am and gradually gain on the “night” train, arriving at 5.08pm.

Eurostar told customers: “Due to ongoing national strike action in France closing some railway lines in the Alps region we have had no option but to change the departure times of the direct night Ski Train on Friday 20 December and the direct day Ski Train on 21 December.

“These unavoidable changes ensure that both trains can still run by avoiding the line closures put in place by SNCF.

“We are sorry for the impact this will have on your plans.

“Please arrive at the station two hours before the new departure time with your existing tickets.” The normal deadline for the Ski Train is one hour before departure.

Passengers who choose not to travel can get a full refund or switch to a future date, but are warned: “There is very limited availability to exchange over the Christmas period.

No inbound skiers will be affected by the change this coming weekend; the first outbound trains of the season are scheduled to return empty from France to London.

So far in December hundreds of thousands of British travellers have been hit by strikes. Eurostar has cancelled more than 100 trains on its inter-city network from London to Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris.

Hundreds of flights have been grounded by British Airways, easyJet and other airlines because of strikes by air-traffic controllers.

Departures from the UK to Spain and Switzerland have been particularly badly hit, as they normally use French airspace. During stoppages the air-traffic control authority reduces the number of overflights.

Most flights this coming weekend are full, with very little slack in the event of disruption.