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About Eurostar
(Information Below Copied Under
Licence)
Eurostar
is a train service
with Paris (Gare du Nord), Lille and Brussels (Brussel Zuid
station). Trains cross the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel,
or "Chunnel". 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 (CTRL) 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 2007-11-14 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. However, since the Channel
Tunnel became operational, many people have started to make the
journey across the channel for work and pleasure as a direct result
of the convenience the service provides. Therefore the actual
ecological benefit of these figures is debatable.
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 300km/h running. Works about to finish
near Brussels Zuid 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.
From the 14th of November 2007 all Eurostar trains will be routed
via the CTRL from the newly redeveloped London terminus at St
Pancras. St Pancras station is being extensively rebuilt and
extended in length to cope with the 394m 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.[1] 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.[2]
Eurotunnel, the company that built and runs the Channel Tunnel, is a
completely separate entity from Eurostar.
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 794 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 'PremierBusiness'.
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 (750V DC, 25kV 50 Hz, 3kV 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.
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. One of the 2 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 3 braking systems. The motors can operate
in a regenerative mode providing dynamic braking. Each axle has 4
disk brakes on it. Both power cars have wheel brakes operating
directly on the wheels. The combined effect of the 3 braking systems
can bring a train travelling at 300 kph to a complete standstill in
65 seconds. The train covers about 3 1/2 kilometres 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 Eurostars 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 750DC 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.
Regional Eurostar and Nightstar
Main article: Regional Eurostar
Part of the original proposal for Eurostar services were Regional
Eurostar direct 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. 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 Leeds and York. Some have since moved to SNCF for use on
domestic TGV services in northern France. It was a regional Eurostar
set, 373313/14, which was used to set the current UK rail-speed
record on section one of the CTRL before it opened for public
service. Set 373313/14 is named "Entente Cordiale" which, and as
well as holding the current UK rail-speed record, 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.
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.[3]
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%). |
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