Eurostar
Excerpted from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Eurostar is a train service that
connects London with Paris and Brussels.
Trains cross the English Channel
through the Channel tunnel.
The French and Belgian parts
of the line are high-speed rail,
and since September 2003, so is
part of the route in England,
the Channel Tunnel Rail Link.
The trains themselves were
constructed by Alstom and can
run on third-rail and various
catenary voltages, achieving
a maximum design speed of
300 km/h when collecting
current from the overhead catenary.
They are essentially modified TGVs.
London to Paris takes 2 hours 35 minutes.
London to Brussels 2 hours and 20 minutes.
The company that runs Eurostar is a
joint venture between Belgian, French
and British railway companies.
British Pounds and Euros may
be used to buy refreshments on
the trains.
The border between France and
the UK is in the middle of the tunnel.
On re-entering the UK, British
Immigration and Nationality Directorate
(IND) staff may be seen on the train.
The Eurostar leaves London from
Waterloo International station on
the south bank of the River Thames.
Some stop at the expanding town of
Ashford in east Kent.
A station in west Kent and another
in east London are still under construction.
These will see service when St.Pancras
station has been adapted to receive
Eurostar trains.
From that time London will have
three international train stations
(Waterloo, St.Pancras and Stratford)
and journey times from Belgium and
France will fall significantly.
The provision of overhead catenary
will enable other electric locomotives
to use the new tracks which may lead
to longer distance services,
for freight or passenger use,
becoming available.
It was originally intended to run
direct services to Paris and
Brussels from places in the
United Kingdom other than London.
That never happened and some of
the trains intended for those
services are now operated by the
GNER (Great North Eastern Railway)
entirely within the UK, from
London's King's Cross station to
York or Leeds, both important
cities in Yorkshire.
Eurostar Homepage
map
Eurostar is also a name applied to some
high speed trains in Italy. These have no
connection with the trains
running through the Channel Tunnel.
I've always been fascinated by trains, trams etc.
It was time I checked out the Eurostar, the fast train
between London - Paris - Brussel, going under the English Channel.
After all Hui Chin, Endre and I have a couple of weeks
travelling on the Japanese Bulet train, which we all
thoroughly enjoyed and are still facinated by it.
I must confess I wasn't really impressed by the Erostar,
although I couldn't see much in the 'Chunnel',
it didn't seem to be all that fast on the surface,
between London and Paris.
I see in the
specification it can travel up to 300 km/h.
In Japan I did notice the speed of 200 km/h.,
there were speedos in each coach as well,
if you didn't believe your eyes, or felt
the presure when two trains passed in
opposite direction.
I just didn't experience the same,
especially the visual speed on the surface
(Must been the "high speed's" day off. Huh?).
I suppose you are expecting my comment
on my last ride (2004) on these high speed beasts.
Shinkansen rules.
Some of my photos
of the Eurostar trains (Click to enlarge).
2003
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| Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
2004
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| Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
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| Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Eurostar |
Italian Eurostar 2004
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| Italian
Eurostar |
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