PalenqueBob

A Eurostar train has set a Paris to London speed record, clocking in a 2 hours 2 minutes Paris to London's St Pancras station.

The record was due to the first time the high-speed train taking the newly opened CTRL all the way to St Pancras instead of the slow entry into London via the existing route to Waterloo International, which soon will revert to Waterloo as all Eurostar services are slated to shift to St Pancras in November i believe.
So London-Paris in two hours - quicker than flying if you take time getting to airports, etc. way quicker, which is why Eurostar now attracts some 2/3's of London-Paris travel i believe.
So Leave Paris at noon, be eating fish and chips in London just after 1pm! (Gain an hour on clock going to London)

Robespierre

Okay, great. I.K. Brunel would be proud. But I always thought a high-speed route should go through Gatwick, not Ebbsfleet (<i>where?</i.

The Law of Unintended Consequences might kick in here - big time.

I try to imagine how Piccadilly Line traffic will be intensified between Heathrow and King's Cross by people landing and immediately going on to the Continent. Maybe it's time for TfL to re-examine the case for express services (tracks that route trains around locals standing in stations). Such a scheme was envisioned in the '40s - in fact, some of the bypass tunnels still exist on the Northern Line.

A fast link between the airports and Ebbsfleet might be workable - maybe that's what they have in mind putting a major terminal there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/e...nt/5337586.stm

PalenqueBob

Oops - BBC said 2:02 but Guardian article says 2:03 and 39 seconds.

Beans - there's another one for you to note.

tod

Thanks for that Bob - I am looking forward to my next trip on Eurostar and loved it even when it was sloooooow!

PalenqueBob

Robes:

CrossRail has been planned and planned and planned and still planning - fast rail link between Heathrow and Kings Cross/St Pancras/Stratford (Olympics) - kind of an RER like Paris - of course Paris has five RER lines and London is still planning!

audere_est_facere

Cross Rail will never happen - every government looks at it and decides it costs too much.

flanneruk

&quot;of course Paris has five RER lines and London is still planning!&quot;

And look at all those businesses relocating from London to Paris. Or those Paris property prices soaring while you can pick up a 10-bed Mayfair mansion for a couple of euros.

It'd all be SO different if London had a transport system like France.

audere_est_facere

The Paris Metro smells funny.

There, I've said it.

London is the sixth biggest French city in terms of frogs living in it.

cocofromdijon

I'll miss the walk across the Thames with the view on Big Ben and the London Eye... :'(

audere_est_facere

St Pancras is actually a runner up in the competition to build Britain's Parliament - so you aren't far out.

alanRow

Glorious interior - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/grap...pancras16a.jpg

And they were going to knock the building down several years ago

How times have changed

PalenqueBob

flanner ole chap - we're not talking about big wigs here who have private car service but the ordinary bloke - Cross Rail will make little difference in the situation you sarcastically reversed - but it would alleviate the sufferings on the masses on the tube.

I fail to see any reasoning in your post on the efficacy of Cross Rail - unless you judge it on things you do . and that is simply daft.

PalenqueBob

The St Pancras 'span over the Eurostar tracks' is called the world's longest such span by the Guardian article - whatever that means!

audere_est_facere

Bob, Crossrail costs a fortune and we don't need it.

We have the tube.

Robespierre

In its current configuration, the Tube, by all accounts, is at its absolute maximum capacity.

PalenqueBob

audere: i don't know whether CrossRail is all that valuable or not

but from riding the tube it seems beleagured in many cases - lots of trains but often too crowded - ever board at Victoria?

seems they need some express trains like the new Jubilee extension - faster cross town travel and alleviate overcrowding

seems London will 'welcome' a few million more residents in the next decade - most without cars and the system just does not seem to be gearing up to stay even.

What do you recommend - nothing?

audere_est_facere

Cross rail is the answer to the question that no one is asking.

Yes we need to upgrade infrastructure - but Cross rail is not the answer.

kerouac

One thing that I read today was that the new high speed rail line for the Eurostar was the first new long distance rail line to be built in England in 100 years. Can this pathetic tidbit possibly be true?

audere_est_facere

Yup - we built all we needed and more in the victorian times. Clever old us.

PalenqueBob

It t'is - nuff said and only because it's part of Eurostar.

Recently the infamous (-ly bad) West Coast main line was completely refurbished - especially signalling at the highest cost of any rail project in UK history i believe... the first train on it had to be pulled into the station by a shunt engine.

Speeds have only increased marginally - that money could have been spent on an all-new line not patching up an antique system

Brits, probably because they don't ride trains on the Continent are not as embarrased by the state of their tattered railways as they should be.

Rail ridership in UK is increasing more than anywhere in Europe - but infrastructure deteriorates and trains can be third-world overcrowded, especially on regional services.

Yet UK rail franchises are the best at advertising and promos i've seen - that they are selling a sub-average product in the Euro context the locals i guess don't know.