Eurostar is a high-speed Train service in Western Europe
connecting London and Kentin the United Kingdom, with Paris and Lille in France, and Brusselsin Belgium.
Apart from this, there are also services from Londonto Disneyland and seasonal destinations in France. Trains go from the English Channel through the Channel Tunnel.
The service is operated by 18-carriage Class 373 trains at
up to 300 km/h (186 mph) on a network of high-speed lines. Since the starting
ofEurostarin 1994, new lines have been built in Belgium
(HSL 1) and Southern England (High Speed 1) as of the same standard as the LGV
Nord line originally used in France, which enables journey timesreduced. The two-stage High Speed 1 project
was completed on 14 November 2007, when the London terminus of Eurostar transferred from
Waterloo International to St Pancras International station.
Shortly before the opening, two runs took place. On 4
September 2007, a record-breaking train left Paris Gare du Nord at 10:44 (09:44
BST) and reached London St Pancras in 2 hours 3 minutes 39 seconds. French
driver Francis Queret took train-set 3223/24 through France, Briton Neil Meare
through Kent.
Transporting journalists and railway workers, Eurostar was the first
passenger-carrying arrival at the St Pancras International station. The train
passed through the new £100 million Ebbsfleet International station near
Dartford in Kent on the way;
both stations will provide direct services to the 2012 Olympics at Stratford, London.
On 20 September 2007, Eurostar made another record as it
completed the journey from Brussels to London in 1 hour, 43
minutes. The train left Brussels-South Station at 10:05, and reached St Pancras
International at 11:48.
From 30 October to early November 2007 Eurostar conducted an
Integrated Volume Testing programme in which some 6000 members of the public
were involved in passenger check-in, immigration control and departure trials,
during which the passengers each made three return journeys out of St Pancras
to the entrance to the Londontunnel.
At 18:12 on 13 November 2007 the last Eurostar service left
Waterloo International, and on 14 November commercial services began over the
whole of the new High Speed 1 line. The redeveloped St Pancras International
station became the new London terminus for all Eurostar services; at a cost of
£800 million this has been extensively rebuilt and extended in length to cope
with the 394 m (431 yd) Eurostar trains.[5] The first service left St Pancras
at 11:06 for Brussels, with the first arrival from the same city pulling in at
11:09. The first train to Parisdeparted at 11:03.
