Channel Trackside

It wasn’t so much the journey to hell and back as a 10-hour one-way train ride to nowhere.

And it was to be the longest of nights for the 650 travellers who boarded the Paris-bound Eurostar train in London on Friday evening.

What was sheer misery for the passengers soon became a catastrophe for the train operators, France’s much-revered SNCF, as technical blunders and wrong decisions followed hard on the heels of each other.

Sadly the tale of the tortuous train trip tells like a French farce.

It left London as scheduled at 8 o’clock in the evening local time, due to arrive in Paris just under two and a half hours later. A marvel of modern technology in which the high speed train reaches a top speed of 300kms per hour – when all goes to plan of course.

There were no problems entering France as it passed through the channel tunnel that separates the two countries, still on time. But then the gremlins had their say.

Another Eurostar train, but one bound in the opposite direction, had been halted in Lille in northern France after a warning light came on. That light meant it had failed the security requirements to enter the channel tunnel and couldn’t continue its journey.

So when the Paris-bound train pulled into Lille, passengers swapped trains – remember there was nothing wrong with the one that had arrived from London, so it could make the return trip without any problem.

That left the Paris-bound travellers now sitting in what they were soon to find out was a train straight from the pages of a Stephen King novel. Almost one and a half hours later it eventually agreed to get its huffing self out of the station.

Perhaps this was the point at which SNCF should have realised that this was a train with more than just a slightly off hair day. In fact it had an all round bad attitude, and was doomed never to complete its journey. But there again hindsight is never kind.

It was rolling along less than merrily some 120kms north of the French capital when it finally had a complete nervous breakdown and lost all power.

Stuck in the wee hours of the morning, the passengers were then asked to walk along the trackside to a third “rescue” train, because the broken-down one couldn’t be shifted.

Train number three finally made it into Paris Gare du Nord station at a quarter past nine local time the next morning. Even with the one-hour time difference between the two countries, that’s a humdinger of a delay.

The director of SNCF’s France-Europe, Mireille Faugère, apologised profusely and called it a “completely unacceptable situation in which the passengers had had a miserable experience.”

Now there’s a woman who doesn’t believe in understatement. The 650 had spent hours without any heating, light or sound and with absolutely no idea of what was going on.

Upon arrival they were offered a gratis breakfast, taxi rides to their final destination, full cash refunds on both legs of their return tickets and – as a crowning glory and probably just about what any sane person dreams of after such a trip – a free return ticket for future use.

Perhaps they would be happier flying next time.

Not surprisingly a full enquiry has been launched.

About the Author:

Johnny is a broadcaster, writer and journalist based in Paris. Visit his site for a look at some the stories making the headlines here in France http://www.persiflagefrance.com/

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – A Nightmare Trip

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Funding Formula 1 is a mystery to many fans, and even within sports circles have problems understanding the complexities. What generally known is that funding for Formula 1 consists of huge sponsorship, television coverage and the sale of goods. Sales of goods are something of an afterthought for sponsors, but as the popularity of Formula 1 is the growing market of goods is also increasing.

Formula 1 is like many other sports with regard to television coverage. Advertisers pay for a place in television coverage and may even sponsor coverage of a specific channel of an event. This method brings lucrative large amounts of funds to the organizing body of Formula 1, FIA and its business funding, the Formula One This is important as Formula One is in the driver's seat of the presentation of the Formula 1 package for the public, so the huge financing requirements to carry out these functions.

The Formula 1 teams to keep themselves in a number of ways, the greatest team sponsors will be able to court some of the biggest names in business, while smaller teams must comply with a lower customer profiles. The teams also produce their own range of goods to meet the needs of followers on average, once again the most popular equipment obviously make more money.

Venues in the calendar of Formula 1 are somewhat limited in their freedom from advertising. In Formula 1 was run by a small number of shareholders in large companies are driven site heads of business decisions. Most places do not have the right to place its signaling own and must pay to host the race. Most money is made by the places on the ticket and merchandise sales once fans are inside of the track.

This explains why Formula 1 tickets can be very costly, mainly because administrators around trying to recover some of the 13 million of dollars annually to host a race fork. Host a Formula 1 race however, is more about the prestige of being a first-class circuit world.

Formula One is the name of the company behind the sport of Formula 1 is to these entrepreneurs and financiers who control how each race is funded and that the sponsors are given preferential treatment. They also decide how much "top-goods F1 teams and the sponsorship of the benefits, although this is kept secret and sometimes cause friction between the teams.

The teams in recent years have not been enough money merchandise and sponsorship sales and are starting to barter for more money from Formula One His argument is that they are the actors in sport and should obtain a bigger slice of the pie, whether this will succeed is doubtful.

The drivers are not paid in Formula One, but the funds are used for racing teams. From the astronomical sums that many of them are incomprehensible to those of an average wage, however, are the best drivers in the world and have worked hard to get where they are. Popular drivers such as Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso can also sign separate trade agreements, usually luxury items like watches and jewelry.

The cushy Formula 1 is driven by the big business that is Formula One, while Bernie Ecclestone has a small share of power in Formula 1, the large companies that put much of the funding ultimately on demand. The bankers of the balance of payments of the company and income formula to keep Formula 1 in the pinnacle of motor sports entertainment.

Apparently the big losers in the world of Formula 1 are the locations as ticket sales are probably the smallest of revenue compared with huge television sponsorship, and merchandise offerings. In what is seen as exclusive sport for the rich, the average fan can not afford to goods of his team. With ticket prices high and the worldwide nature of sport is difficult for anyone but the super rich to keep the sport close to the ground.

About the Author:

Motor Racing expert Thomas Pretty looks into how Formula 1 merchandise as well as sponsorship deals fund the Formula 1 industry. To find out more please visit http://www.official-merchandise.com/

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – Formula One Funding; Merchandise, Sponsorship And Big Business