English Channel ports and St Pancras rail get ready for EES

BTN News
Thursday, 30 May 2024

Preparations are under way at major English Channel crossing points for the Entry Exit System (EES), a new automated European Union (EU) border IT system due to start this October.


Under EES, non-EU nationals including Britons will have to register biometric information the first time they cross the border.

The record will be valid for three months of subsequent crossings and the system has prompted millions of pounds to be spent on equipment and processing areas at Dover’s ferry port, Eurostar’s London St Pancras terminus and Eurotunnel’s Folkestone site.

At Dover, coaches and cars will be processed separately, while Eurostar will expand into new areas of St Pancras in order to install new kiosks that will gather biometric passenger information.

Plane passengers will provide the same biometric information at European airports.

Double handling

At Dover’s ferry port, plus Folkestone and London St Pancras, there will be dual border controls where British and French border officers will check and stamp passports as people leave the UK.

Passports will no longer need to be stamped, but fingerprints and a photo will need to be taken and travellers will face questions about their journey.
UK foreign secretary David Cameron has told a committee of MPs he is “really worried” about “long delays”, particularly at Dover, where queueing at busy times already is an issue.

When EES starts at Dover, coaches will go to the Western docks, away from the main check-in areas. 

Coach halls will have to be built there, with new kiosks to register details.

Coach passengers will then go through the border in the Western docks, re-board their coaches and travel to the ferry terminal, where the coach will proceed to check-in.

For other vehicles there will be a different process. They will use the current lanes upon arrival at the port and be met by an agent who will ask for driver and passenger details. 

By northern summer 2025, the hope is to relocate car processing to the Western docks and to create more holding space around the port by September 2027.

Coach companies say the plans pose possible problems.

"If you’ve got a coach with 50 to 70 people on board, processing takes quite a long time anyway," one said.

St Pancras

Implementing EES at London St Pancras will mean a big change for Eurostar passengers taking trains to Paris and beyond.

The number of border control points in the existing departures area will be doubled, but available space doesn't leave room for the 49 EES kiosks planned.

There therefore will be a kiosk zone near the main station entrance and two other zones including an 'overflow room' on St Pancras’ mezzanine level.
Simon Lejeune, Eurostar’s chief stations and security officer said: 

"Our plan means there will still be a 45 to 90 minute check-in time," he said.

Eurostar’s preparations are costing EUR10 million (GBP8.5 million), while Eurotunnel, which operates freight and vehicle shuttles through the Channel Tunnel, is spending the equivalent of GBP70 million building processing zones, where people will queue in their cars to use automatic machines.

It will also hire 70 new passenger assistance staff on each side of the channel.

The EU is developing an app to enable EES registration to be started from peoples' homes in the UK, but it's not expected to be ready for the start of the new system.

English Channel ports and St Pancras rail get ready for EES

BTN News
Thursday, 30 May 2024

Preparations are under way at major English Channel crossing points for the Entry Exit System (EES), a new automated European Union (EU) border IT system due to start this October.


Under EES, non-EU nationals including Britons will have to register biometric information the first time they cross the border.

The record will be valid for three months of subsequent crossings and the system has prompted millions of pounds to be spent on equipment and processing areas at Dover’s ferry port, Eurostar’s London St Pancras terminus and Eurotunnel’s Folkestone site.

At Dover, coaches and cars will be processed separately, while Eurostar will expand into new areas of St Pancras in order to install new kiosks that will gather biometric passenger information.

Plane passengers will provide the same biometric information at European airports.

Double handling

At Dover’s ferry port, plus Folkestone and London St Pancras, there will be dual border controls where British and French border officers will check and stamp passports as people leave the UK.

Passports will no longer need to be stamped, but fingerprints and a photo will need to be taken and travellers will face questions about their journey.
UK foreign secretary David Cameron has told a committee of MPs he is “really worried” about “long delays”, particularly at Dover, where queueing at busy times already is an issue.

When EES starts at Dover, coaches will go to the Western docks, away from the main check-in areas. 

Coach halls will have to be built there, with new kiosks to register details.

Coach passengers will then go through the border in the Western docks, re-board their coaches and travel to the ferry terminal, where the coach will proceed to check-in.

For other vehicles there will be a different process. They will use the current lanes upon arrival at the port and be met by an agent who will ask for driver and passenger details. 

By northern summer 2025, the hope is to relocate car processing to the Western docks and to create more holding space around the port by September 2027.

Coach companies say the plans pose possible problems.

"If you’ve got a coach with 50 to 70 people on board, processing takes quite a long time anyway," one said.

St Pancras

Implementing EES at London St Pancras will mean a big change for Eurostar passengers taking trains to Paris and beyond.

The number of border control points in the existing departures area will be doubled, but available space doesn't leave room for the 49 EES kiosks planned.

There therefore will be a kiosk zone near the main station entrance and two other zones including an 'overflow room' on St Pancras’ mezzanine level.
Simon Lejeune, Eurostar’s chief stations and security officer said: 

"Our plan means there will still be a 45 to 90 minute check-in time," he said.

Eurostar’s preparations are costing EUR10 million (GBP8.5 million), while Eurotunnel, which operates freight and vehicle shuttles through the Channel Tunnel, is spending the equivalent of GBP70 million building processing zones, where people will queue in their cars to use automatic machines.

It will also hire 70 new passenger assistance staff on each side of the channel.

The EU is developing an app to enable EES registration to be started from peoples' homes in the UK, but it's not expected to be ready for the start of the new system.