Eurostar
Encyclopedia : E : EU : EUR : Eurostar
- This article is about high-speed trains between London and Brussels / Paris. For Italian trains called Eurostar, see Eurostar Italia.
The first revenue-earning Eurostar trains ran in November 1994. Eurostar has established a dominant share of the market on the routes it serves — 68% for London-Paris and 63% for London-Brussels, as of November 2004. The company points out that these passenger figures represent a saving of 393,000 carbon dioxide-producing short-haul flights.
The journey time from London to Paris is currently 2 hours 35 minutes; London to Brussels is 2 hours 20 minutes. These times will be cut by 20 minutes in 2007 when the construction of the second phase of CTRL is completed, bringing the British portion of the route up to the same standards as the French and Belgian sections. Completion of the CTRL will also allow a significant increase in the number of Eurostar trains serving London. After phase two is completed, up to eight trains per hour in each direction will be able to travel from London to the continent, as timetabling will be unaffected by peak hour restrictions at London Waterloo and conflicts between Waterloo and Fawkham Junction.
Some Eurostar services stop en route at Ashford International and at Calais-Fréthun and Lille in northern France in addition to the three destination cities. Eurostar also run services to Disneyland Paris, to Avignon in summer, and - in the skiing season - to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Aime-la-Plagne and Moutiers in the French Alps.
From 2007 all Eurostar trains will be routed through the CTRL to a new London terminus at St Pancras. The company had intended to retain some services to the existing Waterloo terminal, but this was ruled out on cost grounds. Some trains will additionally serve new stations at Ebbsfleet near Dartford in northwest Kent (Ebbsfleet International station) and Stratford International station in east London (near Stratford station, or Stratford Regional station as it will be called when Stratford International station is opened)
Eurotunnel, the company that built and runs the Channel Tunnel, is a completely separate entity from Eurostar.
Stations
- Current London Terminus:
- * London Waterloo International (until 2007)
- Future London Terminus (with completion of Channel Tunnel Rail Link Phase 2 in 2007):
- * St Pancras (from 2007)
- * Stratford International (from 2007, serving both Stratford town and Stratford Olympic Park)
- * Dartford International railway station (from 2007, may be named "Ebbsfleet International").
- Ashford International
- Channel Tunnel: no station facilities
- Calais-Fréthun
- Lille-Europe
- London–Paris services:
- * Paris Gare du Nord
- London–Brussels services:
- * Brussels Gare du Midi
- London–Disneyland / Avignon / Ski train services:
- * Marne-la-Vallée (Daily Disneyland service only)
- * Avignon (Saturday Avignon service only)
- * Moûtiers (Ski trains only)
- * Aime la Plagne (Ski trains only)
- * Bourg Saint Maurice (Ski trains only)
Rolling stock
- The Three Capitals trains are 400 metres long, weigh 800 tonnes and carry 750 passengers in 18 carriages (14 carriages for the 7 UK regional sets, not in use). In case of an incident in the Channel Tunnel, the trains can be divided in two in order to evacuate the passengers in the unaffected carriages.
- In Britain the trains are classified as Class 373 units. They were constructed by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) at its La Rochelle (France), Belfort (France) and Washwood Heath (England) sites. They can run on third rail and various catenary voltages, achieving a maximum in-service speed of 300 km/h (186.4 mph) when collecting current from 25 kV overhead catenary. They are essentially modified TGV sets, and some Eurostar trains not needed for cross-Channel runs are used in domestic TGV service by SNCF. In July 2003 a Eurostar train set a new UK rail speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph) during safety testing on the first section of the CTRL. This section opened for commercial services in September 2003 and has shortened journey times by 20 minutes, helping increase passenger numbers by as much as 20%.
- The 28 three-capitals Eurostar sets have been refurbished with a new interior, designed by Philippe Starck, started in September 2004. The old grey-yellow look (in Standard class) and old grey-red look (In First/Premium First) are being replaced with a new grey-brown look in Standard and a grey-burnt orange in First class. The Premium First class was removed from sale in September 2005 as the company simplified its fare structure.
- Because of the different power systems in the UK and Mainland Europe, with the existing lines in the south of England using a third-rail (at 750 volts DC) for powering their trains, and Mainland Europe and elsewhere in the UK using overhead wires, the Eurostar trains are built with both pantographs for Mainland Europe, and third-rail contact "shoes" for use in the UK. All the Eurostars are tri-current (750V DC, 25kV 50 Hz, 3kV DC), with five sets also featuring (1500V DC) circuitry for working in the south of France.
- While the Eurostar can operate at up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on the high-speed lines, trains are limited to 160 km/h (100 mph) when operating in the Channel Tunnel.
- 1 Extra Eurostar power car was built, numbered 3999. In the event of an incident rendering another without a front power car, the spare could be utilised. This was the case for a couple of years, when 3999 was renumbered and replaced another locomotive during rebuilding at Le Landy. It is usually held at North Pole depot in London.
- The sets were designed with channel tunnel safety in mind, and are in fact formed of two completely independent "half-sets", each with its own power car. Whilst most of the trailers rest on a shared bogie (truck), the two central trailers do not: they are simply coupled together using a Scharfenberg coupler. In the event of an incident on board, the passengers can simply be transferred to the "good" half of the set, which would then be detached from the other half and driven out of the tunnel to safety. However, during the only incident of fire to have occurred, the power was tripped off by fire damage, making this impossible.
- As well as the central automatic coupling, the half-sets feature Scharfenberg couplings between the power-cars and the first (motor)-trailer. This allows for a total of three points where the train can be separated in an emergency. As well as the coupling, there are many electrical supply cables that are designed to rip apart (break) during a separation. These cables reportedly cost about £30k to replace if performed accidentally.
- Due to the high speed of travel, the driver often cannot see signals fast enough to be able to respond accordingly. With the TVM signalling used on the high-speed lines, the target speed for the end of the current block is displayed, along with a flashing indication for the next block if it is a different speed.
- Every Eurostar "power car" has a 4 digit number starting with "3" (3xxx) This numbering fits the Eurostar as the TGV Mark 3, Mark 2 being TGV Atlantique, and Mark 1 being the original Paris-Sud-Est units.
- The second digit of the Eurostar number is the country which purchased (and owns) the Eurostar. 30xx UK, 31xx Belgium, 32xx France. The Regional Eurostar UK trains are 33xx.
- Of the 38 Eurostars sets built, 18 are required for daily three-capitals use. SNCF currently uses 3 repainted Eurostars for domestic services, one of which can regularly be seen working the Paris-Lille shuttle. After some political wrangling regarding TGV-branded sets turning up in London, the 3 SNCF domestic-sets had their 750DC shoe-gear and yellow-ends removed, preventing them from working in the UK. GNER leased up to 5 North-of-London Eurostars for their London-Leeds "White-Rose" service. Just like the borrowed SNCF sets, these were stripped of their Eurostar markings; two sporting a mostly-white livery, with three sets receiving full-length GNER-style deep-navy paint-jobs. The GNER arrangement concluded in December 2005.
Regional Eurostar
It was originally intended to run "regional Eurostars", direct services to Paris and Brussels from places in the United Kingdom other than London (Manchester, Glasgow, Liverpool, Edinburgh). After raising capital for the Rail link from various UK regional councils and authorities, the proposed service was cancelled without ever starting. Influence by newly privatised companies like Virgin Trains guided the decision to determine that the service would not be viable#redirect . Seven of the shorter Eurostar trains were completed and handed over to Eurostar. A few were operated by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) on the East Coast Main Line from London King's Cross railway station to Leeds and York. See main article Regional Eurostar.
'Nightstar' sleeper trains were never used, and they were sold to VIA Rail in Canada, which has branded them as Renaissance Cars [link].
It is rumoured that the new HSL-Zuid highspeed rail link from Brussels to Amsterdam and HSL 3 to Köln may see Deutsche Bahn bid to launch competing services to the UK, such as the possibility of new services from London Heathrow / Watford areas to Amsterdam and Köln, using the regional eurostars. This would require suitable border-control and customs facilities and leasing Eurostar sets, as these are the only passenger trains currently able to comply with Channel-Tunnel safety regulations.
Regional Eurostar 3313/14 is named "Entente Cordiale", and, as well as holding the current UK rail-speed record, has seen use as a VIP charter train, transporting the Queen on a state visit to France and to the Entente Cordiale anniversary in 2004.
Trivia
- All staff must be fluent in English or French. Staff use a combination and refer to this as "Franglais".
- It used to be faster by train from London to Paris or Brussels than to travel to Manchester. After the complete CTRL is finished, it will be almost faster to take a Eurostar from London all the way to Brussels than the regular train from London to Dover.
- A specially built depot was constructed in Manchester for the regional eurostars. Two Eurostars were stored unused for many years here. The depot famously had the words "Le Eurostar habite ici" "The Eurostar Lives Here" on the side, which was unremoved for many years. The depot was unused until 2005 when Siemens temporarily took it over.
- The Eurostar power cars have only a very small windshield/screen when compared to the TGV and other high-speed trains. This is to eliminate the hypnotic effect of driving through a tunnel at speed for 21 minutes.
- To save time when boarding in London/Ashford, passengers complete French immigration, and upon arrival at Gare Du Nord, passengers just have to walk off the platform and go. The same is true in Paris, where UK customs/border is completed before departure; this depends on political circumstances at the time.
- It can cost more than £20 in energy to stop a Eurostar from full speed using dynamic and rheostatic breaking.
- The North Pole depot in London is over 1 mile long, has its own bus service, and staff use bicycles on site.
- Because of the design of the carriages, Eurostar accommodates wheelchairs only in first class where there are wheel-chair accessible toilets in the centre of the train.
- In France, tickets are sold by SNCF; in Belgium, by SNCB; in the UK, by Eurostar.
- A Commuter service from Calais to London was proposed when the CTRL is finished. This would take under 1 hour for a Calais–London journey, or approximately 45 minutes for Calais–Ashford, placing France in the same commuter-belt as Peterborough, Leicester or Brighton.
- At its cheapest, 38 Roundtrips cost approximately £2000. After spending this much and using the frequent traveller program, you would be able to earn 1 free roundtrip ticket in Economy Class on Eurostar, .
- Le Landy depot in Paris is the only place where TGV Mk1 (Méditerranée), TGV Mk2 (TGV Atlantique), TGV Mk3 (Eurostar) and TGV Mark 4 (Thalys) can be seen together.
Organisation
Eurostar services are under unified management, the Eurostar Group. In each country, a member company undertakes Eurostar operation:- Belgium — NMBS/SNCB
- France — SNCF
- United Kingdom — Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd. or (EUKL)
- *EUKL managed (under contract) by InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR), a consortium of:
- **National Express Group (40%),
- **SNCF (35%)
- **NMBS/SNCB (15%)
- **British Airways (10%).
See also
External links
- [Eurostar Homepage]
- [Trainfinder - Eurostar Search page]
- [How to travel by train from London to France]
- [How to travel by train from London to Belgium]
| Channel Tunnel | |
|---|---|
| Construction: | Fixed Link Treaty - TransManche Link - Channel Tunnel Rail Link |
| Corporate: | Eurotunnel Group - Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd. - SNCF - SNCB |
| Services: | Eurostar - Eurotunnel Shuttle |
| Other: | Rail transport in France - Rail transport in the United Kingdom |
| Current scheduled passenger train operators in Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
|---|---|
| Domestic: | Arriva Trains Wales - c2c - Central Trains - Chiltern Railways - First Capital Connect First Great Western - First ScotRail - First TransPennine Express - Grand Central Railway1 Great North Eastern Railway>GNER - Heathrow Connect - Hull Trains - Island Line - Merseyrail - Midland Mainline Northern Rail - Northern Ireland Railways2 - one - Silverlink - Southeastern - Southern South West Trains - Virgin Trains |
| International: | Enterprise 2 - Eurostar |
| Airport Link: | Gatwick Express - Heathrow Express - Stansted Express3 |
| Sleeper: | Caledonian Sleeper4 - Night Riviera5 |
| 1 Starts December 2006 – 2 Operated on the Irish railway network - 3 Operated by one 4 Operated by First ScotRail – 5 Operated by First Great Western | |
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