In message , Roland
Perry writes

I used to live in SWT-land (near Surbiton). I was *extremely* surprised
to find that there's no SWT train running in the early morning that
would have connected me with the first E* from Waterloo

Then think how much worse it is going to be to get from Surbiton to St
Pancras in time for a 05:30 departure!

- necessary if you want to make a morning meeting on the Continent.

Depends - the 06:26 departure arrive in Brussels at 10.01. But I don't
know many people who are so keen on their jobs that they would want to
get up that early just for a meeting.

Presumably that first train is entirely for people within a taxi ride
of Waterloo (including those forced to overnight in a hotel).

Or who have relatives who can drop them off, or who know how to use a
night bus, or who are travelling in a party for which a minibus or
coach, has been laid on, or who are Belgian or French and have been
staying in a nearby hotel ...

But I have to say that the only time I ever travelled on that early
service, I was very lonely. It certainly wasn't very popular a few years
back.

You need to factor in several other variables. For example, as a result
of the impossibility of catching the first E* in the morning from
anywhere outside central London, the business traveller with a morning
meeting has to be funded well enough to either overnight in London, or
Paris/Brussels.

I should have thought that was pretty normal - the company for which I
sometimes do some work (and which has charitable status) will always pay
for a hotel if there is a morning start and the travelling time is much
more than about an hour.

--
Paul Terry