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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Daniel Keane

Orient Express to scrap UK section after 41 years due to Brexit

The UK leg of the Orient Express has been scrapped due to Brexit border controls, according to a report.

Passengers had previously been able to ride the service’s famous art deco carriages from central London’s Victoria station to Folkestone.

Travellers would then board a coach to cross to France before joining a Belmond train in Calais.

But Belmond, the firm that operates the service, said that it would have to “adjust operations” next year ahead of “enhanced border and passport controls”.

A Belmond spokesperson told the Observer: “We want to avoid any risk of travel disruption for our guests – delays and missing train connections – and provide the highest level of service, as seamless and relaxed as possible.”

Coaches have faced delays at Dover for up to 14 hours in recent weeks as a result of post-Brexit security checks.

Under new regulations, passengers must get off the coach and have their passport checked prior to crossing the channel.

Travellers will also soon need to have their fingerprints and faces biometrically checked.

The train’s original route ran from Paris to Istanbul and passed cities including Vienna and Bucharest.

It crossed through a number of countries including France, Germany and the then Ottoman Empire.

The Orient Express famously features in Agatha Christie’s detective novel Murder on the Orient Express.

Separately, Eurostar’s service from St Pancras to Disneyland Paris will end this summer.

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