Eurostar

This article is about high-speed trains between London and Brussels / Paris. For Eurostar (disambiguation), see Eurostar (disambiguation).

Franchise(s)	Not subject to franchising International joint operation service began 1994
Main stations(s)	London Waterloo, Paris Gare du Nord, Brussels South
Other stations(s)	London St Pancras, Ebbsfleet Int., Stratford Int., Ashford Int., Calais-Fréthun, Lille-Europe, Marne-la-Vallée, Avignon Centre, Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Aime-la-Plagne, Moûtiers
Fleet size	27 Class 373 sets
Stations called at	11 (13 when CTRL is fully operational)
Parent company	Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd., SNCF, NMBS/SNCB
Other
Website	www.eurostar.com

A Eurostar on the CTRL going through the Medway Towns

Eurostar is a train service connecting London and Kent with Paris, Lille and Brussels. Trains cross the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel. In Southern England, a new railway line has been built to the same high-speed LGV standards used in France. The two-phase Channel Tunnel Rail Link project has been partially in operation since 2003, reducing times to and from London Waterloo. Eurostar have announced that upon completion of the CTRL into London St Pancras, the finished railway will be branded as High Speed 1 to the public from November 14, 2007 onwards.

Since the first revenue-earning Eurostar trains ran in November 1994, Eurostar has established a dominant share of the market on the routes it serves. In November 2004, ten years after the start of services, Eurostar stated that their share of the combined rail/air market share had grown to 68% for London⇔Paris and 63% for London⇔Brussels. As an ecological pointer, the company noted that these passenger figures represented a saving of 393,000 carbon dioxide-producing short-haul flights.

Works about to finish near Brussels South will additionally provide a 4 minute improvement for all Brussels-bound services. Completion of the dedicated rail link on the British side will allow a significant potential increase in the number of Eurostar trains serving London. Grade separation of the CTRL from UK domestic railway services through Kent, means that timetabling for Eurostar train paths will be unaffected by peak hour restrictions. After CTRL2 is completed, up to eight trains per hour in each direction will be able to travel from London to Continental Europe, moving the bottleneck in capacity to the Channel Tunnel itself.

Some Eurostar services stop en route to Brussels and Paris. Current intermediate stations are Ashford International, then Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe in northern France. In addition to the two main destination cities and their intermediate stops, Eurostar also run daily services to Disneyland Paris, a weekly summer-time Avignon service and twice weekly to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Aime-la-Plagne and Moutiers in the French Alps for the ski season.

Eurotunnel, the company that built and runs the Channel Tunnel, is a completely separate entity from Eurostar.

CTRL (High Speed 1)

From the 14th of November 2007 all Eurostar trains will be routed via the CTRL from the newly redeveloped London terminus at St Pancras International. St Pancras station is being extensively rebuilt and extended in length to cope with the 394 m Eurostar trains with the surrounding area being regenerated as King's Cross Central. Originally the company behind Eurostar had announced its intention to retain some services to the existing Waterloo International terminal, a plan that has been ruled out on cost grounds. Some trains to Continental Europe will serve new stations at Stratford International station in East London and Ebbsfleet International station in northwest Kent. Stratford station will be renamed Stratford Regional station when the adjacent Stratford International station is opened. Services stopping at Ashford International will be reduced to allow peak-time services to stop instead at Ebbsfleet. Withdrawing services from a station opened only a decade ago provoked controversy from the local community, but Eurostar has rejected accusations that it is "moth-balling" Ashford International. On 3 April 2007 a petition with 8,000 signatures was taken to London Waterloo calling for an [EU] enquiry into the impact of the reduced services from Ashford International.

From 2003, the journey time from London to Paris has been 2 hours 35 minutes with London to Brussels slightly faster at 2 hours 20 minutes. In November 2007, times from London to the Channel Tunnel will be cut by 20 minutes, when the construction of the full CTRL is complete. CTRL Section 2 (CTRL2) will bring the British portion of the route up to the same standards as the French and Belgian LGV high-speed sections, allowing 300 km/h running.

On 4th September 2007, a special record-breaking train left Paris Gare du Nord at 10.44 (9.44 BST) and reached London St Pancras in 2 hours 3 mins 39 seconds. French driver Francis Queret took the train through France, while a Briton, Neil Meare, took control of train-set 3223/24 passing through Kent. Transporting journalists and railway workers, the train was the first passenger-carrying arrival at the new North London station.

Eurostar's inaugural journey from Paris to London via a new 186 mph (300 km/h) high-speed line will arrive at St. Pancras International station, instead of Waterloo, for the first time. Travel time from Paris to London will be reduced by 20 minutes and will be available to the public on 14 November. St. Pancras' revamp and upgrading cost £5.8bn. On September 4, 2007, the train passed through the new £100M Ebbsfleet International station near Dartford, Kent. St. Pancras station will be connected to the site of the 2012 Olympics at Stratford, London.

Eurostar routes

Eurostar services
Dortmund Essen Duisburg Amsterdam Düsseldorf Airport Schiphol Airport Düsseldorf Rotterdam Cologne Netherlands Belgium Aachen Antwerp Germany Belgium Liège London UK France Channel Tunnel Brussels Lille Belgium France Paris   Charles de Gaulle Airport Marne-la-Vallée– Chessy summer/winter seasonal service Valence Chambéry Avignon Albertville Aix-en-Provence Moûtiers Marseille Aime-La Plagne Landry Bourg-Saint-Maurice

The Eurostar network features a regular service of 9–15 daily trains between London–Paris and London–Brussels. There is at least one non-stop service per day in order to be able to advertise the minimum times between the three capitals. Throughout the day Paris and Brussels services stop at Lille-Europe, Calais-Fréthun and Ashford International. In addition to the three-capitals service, there is one round-trip London–Disneyland and two seasonal services to the south of France.

During the summer months there is one train makes the journey London–Ashford–Avignon Centre. In the winter months there are two weekly services London–Bourg Saint Maurice in the Alps. These two Snow Train services are designed to suit skiing enthusiasts, with one overnight and one daytime round-trip.

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, drawing 12 MW of power and 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 still in daily use for international services have been refurbished with a new interior, designed by Philippe Starck, started in September 2004, following customer complaints and EUKL dissatisfaction at the damage that the interiors had suffered since they had been placed into service. 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. Power points have been added to seats in First class and coaches 1 and 18 in Standard Class. The Premium First class was renamed BusinessPremier
• 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-voltage (750 V DC, 25 kV 50 Hz, 3 kV DC), with five sets also featuring quad-voltage (1500V DC) circuitry for working in the south of France.
• While operating on the pantograph power collection, the Eurostar has to be able to cope with three different standards of overhead catenary: the regular-height catenary as found on the Belgian and French domestic railways and also through Lille and Ashford; the lower-height catenary as found on the high speed TGV lines; and the unique-height catenary that runs through the Eurotunnel itself. The tunnel catenary is located much higher than any other system as the tunnel carries double deck car trains as well as trains carrying heavy goods vehicles. The driver of the train is required to lower the pantographs as he exits one system and raise them again when he enters the new system.
• Whenever the driver lowers the pantograph and deploys the 750 volt DC shoe gear to run on the UK South Eastern regional domestic lines, the speedometer scale automatically changes from kilometres per hour to miles per hour. In the short section of track into and out of Ashford International, although the track around the station has dual 750 volt DC and 25 kV AC power systems, the line side speed limit signs are in both imperial and metric so that no change in the speedometer is required.
• The Eurostar trains and their drivers also have to be able run under four different signalling systems: the UK domestic system encountered between London Waterloo and just north of the TGV line (CTRL1) near Swanley in Kent, around Ashford International Station, and also to be fitted at St Pancras International; the French domestic system encountered between Paris Gare du Nord and the TGV line; the Belgian domestic system encountered between Brussels Midi and the TGV line; and the TVM signalling on the TGV lines themselves.
• Eurostar can operate at up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on the high-speed lines with a speed-limit of 160 km/h (100 mph) when operating in the Channel Tunnel. In practice, since there is an automatic application of the brakes if the speed exceeds 300 km/h (or 160 km/h when the pantograph is in the tunnel setting), the target speed is in fact 297 and 157 km/h respectively. Speed limits in the Channel Tunnel are dictated by air-resistance, energy (heat) dissipation and the need to fit in with other traffic operating at slower speeds.
• One 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. One of the two Chefs du Train is in fact a fully authorised driver - usually the driver from the other half of the round trip (2 journeys exceeds the driver's maximum driving hours). The driver who is acting as a Chef du Train is required to occupy the rearmost driving cab during that part of the journey through the tunnel.
• 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 is considered to be unable to see line side signals and 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. Also, auxiliary signalling such as the location of neutral sections in the overhead supply and pantograph adjustment zones are displayed in cab as well as by the line side. The operation of the locomotives' circuit breakers over the neutral sections is handled automatically on the TGV lines only, but the pantograph adjustments must be performed by the driver.
• The Eurostar trains have three braking systems. The motors can operate in a regenerative mode providing dynamic braking. Each axle has four disk brakes on it. Both power cars have wheel brakes operating directly on the wheels. The combined effect of the three braking systems can bring a train travelling at 300 km/h to a complete standstill in 65 seconds. The train covers about 3.5 km during this time.
• Every Eurostar "power car" has a four-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 Eurostar sets built, 18 are required for daily three-capitals use. SNCF currently uses three 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 three SNCF domestic-sets had their 750 V DC shoe-gear and yellow-ends removed, preventing them from working in the UK. GNER leased up to five 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 vinyl wraps. The GNER arrangement concluded in December 2005.

• In addition to its main passenger rolling stock, Eurostar also operated a number of other types:
• Class 37 - a diesel locomotive intended to operate sleeper services over non-electrified parts of the railway network in Britain. Eurostar retains three locomotives for the rescue of failed trains, route learning and driver training.
• Class 73 - an electro-diesel locomotive used primarily to rescue failed trains. Eurostar operated two of these from its North Pole depot until 2007, when they were loaned to a pair of educational initiatives due to their becoming redundant following the move to Temple Mills.
• Class 92 - an electric locomotive intended to operate the sleeper services. Eurostar owned seven units of this class, which never saw service until they were sold in 2007 to Europorte 2.

Past fleet

Class	Image	Type	Built	Withdrawn	Notes
Class 92		Electric locomotive	1993 - 1996	2007	Sold to Europorte 2
Class 73		Electro-diesel locomotive	1965 - 1967	2007	Loaned for educational purposes

Regional Eurostar and Nightstar

Main article: Regional Eurostar

Part of the original proposal for Eurostar services were direct Regional Eurostar services to Paris and Brussels from Manchester (via Birmingham on the WCML) and Glasgow (via Edinburgh, Newcastle & York on the ECML). Following substantial investment in trains, facilities and test runs the proposed services did not ever run due to various stated reasons, particularly the growth of budget airlines. The closest that can now be expected is cross platform connections, Midland Main Line cities onto Eurostar destinations. Seven shorter Eurostar trains were completed and these were handed over to Eurostar (UK) upon the privatisation of British Rail. Three units were leased by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) to increase capacity on domestic services from London King's Cross railway station to York and later Leeds.

Most of the NoL sets have since moved to SNCF, for use on domestic TGV services in northern France. Before the public opening of CTRL Section 1, regional Eurostar set 373313/14 was used to set the current UK rail-speed record. Set 373313/14 is named "Entente Cordiale" has seen use as a VIP charter train having transported the Queen on a state visit to France and to the Entente Cordiale anniversary celebrations in 2004. On 2007-06-12, the unit was used to ferry International Olympic Committee inspectors from Stratford International to London St. Pancras, as a demonstration for future Olympic Javelin services in 2012.

Also part of the proposals were international Nightstar sleeper trains along the same routes plus the Great Western main line to Cardiff. These also did not operate and the constructed coaches were sold to VIA Rail in Canada, which branded them as Renaissance Cars.

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%).

Eurostar is a member of Railteam, a marketing alliance formed in July 2007 of seven European high-speed rail operators, including Thalys. The alliance plans to allow tickets bookable from one side of Europe to the other on one website.

See also

• Regional Eurostar
• TGV
• British Rail Class 373
• High Speed Two

External links

• Eurostar Homepage
• Eurostar tickets North American distributor
• Unofficial Eurostar links page