"(HS1) line which terminates at St Pancras station; at their closest points, the two high-speed lines will be only apart. The Department for Transport initially outlined plans to link the two high-speed lines in order to allow HS2 trains from the North of England to bypass London Euston and connect straight to HS1. This connection would have enabled direct rail services to be run from Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham to Paris, Brussels and other continental European destinations, realising the aims of the Regional Eurostar scheme, first proposed in the 1980s. Several possible solutions were considered. In 2010 the Government command"
"Eurostar Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Amsterdam, Avignon, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Marseille, Paris and Rotterdam. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Getlink. The London terminus is St Pancras International, the other British calling points being Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Intermediate calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with trains to Paris terminating at Gare du Nord. Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. The only intermediate calling point in the Netherlands is Rotterdam Centraal, with trains terminating at"
"British Rail Class 373 The British Rail Class 373 or TGV TMST train is a French designed and built electric multiple unit that operates Eurostar high speed rail services from London to France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. Part of the TGV family, it has a smaller cross-section to fit the smaller loading gauge in Britain, was originally able to operate on the UK third rail network and it has extensive fireproofing in case of fire in the tunnel. It is both the second longest——and second fastest train in regular UK passenger service, operating at speeds of up to"
"cost high speed rail service between London and Paris, travelling between the railway stations of Stratford International and Charles-de-Gaulle. Getlink Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a public company which manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between England and France, including the Eurotunnel Shuttle vehicle services, and earns revenue on other trains through the tunnel (DB Schenker freight and Eurostar passenger). It is listed on both the Euronext London and Euronext Paris markets, and was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 19 July 2012. The company is based in Paris. The railway operation has of double track railway in the"
"in southern England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and also with TGV trains. In the United Kingdom the two-stage Channel Tunnel Rail Link project was completed on 14 November 2007 and renamed ""High Speed 1"", when the London terminus of Eurostar changed from Waterloo International to St Pancras International. Until 2010, Eurostar was operated jointly by the national railway companies of France and Belgium, SNCF and SNCB/NMBS, and Eurostar (UK) Ltd (EUKL), a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways (LCR), which also owned the high-speed infrastructure and stations on the British"
"High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway between London and the United Kingdom end of the Channel Tunnel. The line carries international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and Continental Europe; it also carries domestic passenger traffic to and from stations in Kent and east London, and Berne gauge freight traffic. The line crosses the River Medway, and under the River Thames, terminating at St Pancras International station on the north side of central London. It cost £5.8 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains reach"
"contract to Transport for London. Heathrow Express is also unusual in that it is not officially part of the National Rail franchising system. Long-distance intercity services are provided at some London rail termini. Because the termini and intercity routes were largely built by competing companies, many termini serve cities in overlapping regions or different parts of the same region: St Pancras provides international Eurostar services via the Channel Tunnel to cities including Paris, Brussels, Lyon and Marseilles, with journeys to Paris in around 2 hours 15 minutes and to Brussels in around 1 hour 50 minutes.Journeys have also started to"
"trains serve the Paris to Brussels corridor, which is now covered in 1h20. Additional Thalys services extend to Amsterdam and Cologne in addition to Belgian cities. Both Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Eurostar have announced plans for direct services from London to new continental destinations in the Netherlands and Germany. DB have not set a date for any new service to begin, although the company did at one point hope to introduce a five-hour service to Frankfurt by 2017. A twice daily direct Eurostar service between London St Pancras and Amsterdam started running on 4 April 2018. The German manufacturer Siemens"
"The LGV SEA brings high-speed rail service to southwestern France and connects the ""régions"" of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie with the high-speed rail service of Northern Europe, which connects Paris to London, Brussels, Amsterdam and beyond. The trip between Paris and Bordeaux takes around two hours and ten minutes at a top speed of 320 km/h. The inter-city links between Tours, Poitiers, Angoulême, and Bordeaux are also improved, and southwestern France is better connected to various parts of the country and to the rest of Europe. The project is also a response to the heavy traffic on the existing rail line."
"speeds of up to on section 1 (Channel Tunnel to Fawkham Junction) and up to on section 2 ( to London St Pancras). Intermediate stations are at in London, and Ebbsfleet International Station and in Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with journey times of London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes, and St Pancras to in 1 hour 51 minutes. As of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of and Class 374 trains. Domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond"
"for the longest non-stop high-speed journey, a distance of from London to Cannes taking 7 hours 25 minutes. 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; carrying journalists and railway workers. This record trip was also the first passenger-carrying arrival to the new St Pancras International station. On 20 September 2007, Eurostar broke another record when it completed the journey from Brussels to London in 1 hour, 43 minutes. The original proposals for Eurostar included direct services to Paris and"
"and Belgian high-speed lines. Non-stop journey times were reduced by a further 20 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes for London–Paris and 1 hour 51 minutes for London–Brussels. Eurostar offers up to sixteen weekday London – Paris services (eighteen on Fridays) including ten non-stop (twelve on Fridays). Previously there were ten London–Lille and Brussels services, including five running non-stop as far as Lille, but this has now been reduced to seven each way. In addition, there is a return trip from London to Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy for Disneyland Paris, which runs at least 4 times a week with increased frequency"
"HSL 1, opened on 14 December 1997. It links with LGV Nord on the border with France, allowing Eurostar trains heading to Brussels to make the transition between the two without having to reduce speed. A further four-minute improvement for London–Brussels trains was achieved in December 2006, with the opening of the Brussels South Viaduct. Linking the international platforms of Brussels-South railway station with the high-speed line, the viaduct separates Eurostar (and Thalys) from local services. High Speed 1 (HS1), formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway line running from London through Kent to"
"Eurostar, which operates services through the Channel Tunnel to the United Kingdom, cancelled all its services to and from Brussels, but continued to operate its services between London and Paris and between London and Lille, the latter with delays. A skeleton service of three Eurostar trains a day in each direction between London and Brussels resumed on 22 February. The trains were diverted via Ghent, causing the journey time to be lengthened. The full timetabled service resumed on Monday 1 March, two weeks after the accident. According to data from Infrabel, the accident caused 1,109 trains to be completely cancelled"
"km/h on these trains in Germany. Seventeen trains were ordered: nine by SNCB/NMBS, six by SNCF and two by NS. Deutsche Bahn contributed to financing two of the SNCB sets. SNCF TGV Thalys PBKA The Thalys PBKA is a high-speed train derived from the French TGV. It operates the Thalys service between Paris, Brussels, Cologne () and Amsterdam, forming the abbreviation PBKA. Unlike Thalys PBA sets, the PBKA sets were built exclusively for the Thalys service. Their motor cars are technologically similar to those of TGV Duplex sets, but the trains do not feature bi-level carriages. They have eight carriages"
"of France was opened. For the first time, high-speed services over the Franco-German border were offered. SNCF operates the TGV service between Paris and Stuttgart via Strasbourg and a daily return journey from Paris to Frankfurt via Saarbrücken, while ICE trains operate the remaining Paris to Frankfurt. The construction of the Channel Tunnel, completed in 1994, provided the impetus for the first cross-border high-speed rail line. In 1993, the LGV Nord, which connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille, was opened. Initial travel times through the tunnel from London to Paris and Brussels were about"
"as a one-way service, with return trains carrying passengers to Rotterdam and Brussels Midi/Zuid, making a 28-minute stop (which has not been deemed long enough to process UK-bound passengers) and then carrying different passengers from Brussels to London. Passengers travelling back must take Thalys services to Brussels Midi/Zuid where they can join the Eurostar. This is owing to the lack of UK Border Force facilities at Amsterdam Centraal and Rotterdam Centraal. Since 14 November 2007, all Eurostar trains have been routed via High Speed 1 to or from the redeveloped London terminus at St Pancras International, which at a cost"
"times anyway. Switzerland is investing money in lines on French and German soil to enable better access to the high speed rail networks of those countries from Switzerland. The UK's fastest high-speed line (HS-1) connects London St Pancras with Brussels and Paris through the Channel Tunnel. At speeds of up to , it is the only high-speed line in Britain with an operating speed of more than . The Great Western Main Line, South Wales Main Line, West Coast Main Line, Midland Main Line, Cross Country Route and East Coast Main Line all have maximum speed limits of on part"
"between London and Paris. On 8 January 1996 Eurostar launched services from a second railway station in the UK when Ashford International was opened. Journey times between London and Brussels were reduced by the opening of HSL 1 on 14 December 1997. The trains are based on the TGV and are British Rail Class 373. The 1990s began with another recession that dampened car sales. General Motors continued to suffer huge losses thanks to an inefficient structure, stale designs, and poor quality. Sales improved with the economy by the mid-1990s, but GM's US market share gradually declined to less than"
"Arrivals During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, St Pancras was the Central London terminus of the ""Olympic Javelin"" service, a seven-minute shuttle between Central London and Stratford International station for the London Olympic Park. Seventeen pairs of Eurostar trains to and from Paris Gare du Nord every day, ten pairs of trains to and from Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid for Brussels and the European Union de facto capital, and one train to and from Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland Resort Paris. Extra services run to Paris on Fridays and Sundays, with a reduced service to Brussels at weekends. Additional weekend leisure-oriented trains run to"
"the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. Journeys from Brussels (Brussels-South) to Paris (""Gare du Nord"") are normally 1 hour, 22 minutes, for a distance of approximately . Peak speed is on a dedicated high-speed railway track, which is electrified at 25 kV AC OHLE. The ""ligne à grande vitesse"" (LGV) link with Charles de Gaulle Airport allowed Air France to withdraw its air service between Paris and Brussels; instead, Air France books seats on Thalys trains. Thalys has been given the IATA designator 2H. This is used in conjunction with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines. American Airlines has a code"
"Internationale des Wagons-Lits"" (CIWL). Stanislas (train) Stanislas was an express train that linked Paris and Strasbourg in France. Introduced in 1971, it was operated by the ""Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français"" (SNCF). The train was named after Stanisław I Leszczyński (French: ""Stanislas Leszczynski""), King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine and a count of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE) until 1982, and then a two-class ""Rapide"" until its discontinuance in about 1988. The ""Stanislas""'s route was the long Paris–Strasbourg railway, with just the following stops: The ""Stanislas"" was introduced on 26 September"
"in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion. On 16 September 2003 the prime minister, Tony Blair, opened the first section of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the Queen officially opened High Speed 1 and St Pancras International station, replacing the original slower link to Waterloo International railway station. High Speed 1 trains travel at up to , the journey from London to Paris taking 2 hours 15 minutes, to Brussels 1 hour 51 minutes. In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the tunnel as one of the seven modern Wonders of the"
"phase in November 2007. The fastest trains take 2 hours 15 minutes London–Paris and 1 hour 51 minutes London–Brussels. The first twice-daily London-Amsterdam service ran April 3, and took 3 hours 47 minutes. The TGV was the world's fourth commercial and third standard gauge high-speed train service, after Japan's Shinkansen, which connected Tokyo and Osaka from 1 October 1964, the Russian ER200 around 1974 (full service in 1984), and Britain's InterCity 125 on main lines such as the East Coast Main Line, which entered service in 1976. A modified TGV test train holds the world speed record for conventional trains."
"The railway system is a small portion of total travel, accounting for less than 10% of passenger travel. From 1981 onwards, a newly constructed set of high-speed ""Lignes à Grande Vitesse"" (LGV) lines linked France's most populous areas with the capital, starting with Paris-Lyon. In 1994, the Channel Tunnel opened, connecting France and Great Britain by rail under the English Channel. The TGV has set many world speed records, the most recent on 3 April 2007, when a new version of the TGV dubbed the V150 with larger wheels than the usual TGV, and a stronger engine, broke the world"
"Tunnel Rail Link) is a high speed railway built to French 'LGV' (Ligne à Grande Vitesse) standards, connecting the Channel Tunnel to London. Since December 2009, high speed commuter services from Dover have called at Folkestone and then, using the South Eastern Main Line to Ashford International, the services join HS1 for the journey to Ebbsfleet, Stratford and London St Pancras. The journey time to London via this route has been reduced to under 1 hour; some trains from Folkestone West take as little as 52 minutes to reach the capital by High Speed Train. The Eurotunnel Shuttle terminal, for"
"rail service between Paris and Brussels since 1924 on the train service l'Étoile du Nord. In the 1970s it connected the two cities in around 2 hours 30 minutes. The decision to build a high-speed railway between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam was made in 1987. On 28 January 1993, SNCF, SNCB/NMBS, Nederlandse Spoorwegen and Deutsche Bundesbahn (which became part of Deutsche Bahn in 1994) signed an agreement to operate the axis jointly through the brand Thalys, and in 1995 Westrail International was created by the French and Belgian national railways to operate the services. On 4 June 1996 the"
"the domestic signalling systems used by Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Following the December 2009 opening of HSL Zuid, a London–Amsterdam journey is estimated to take 4 hr 16 min. In an interview with Eurostar's Chief Executive Nicolas Petrovic in the ""Financial Times"" in May 2012, an intention for Eurostar to serve ten new destinations was expressed, including Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Cologne, Lyon, Marseille and Geneva, along with a likely second hub to be created in Brussels. In March 2016 in an interview with Bloomberg, Eurostar's Chief Executive expressed interest in operating a direct train service between London and Bordeaux, but not before 2019."
"Stanislas (train) Stanislas was an express train that linked Paris and Strasbourg in France. Introduced in 1971, it was operated by the ""Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français"" (SNCF). The train was named after Stanisław I Leszczyński (French: ""Stanislas Leszczynski""), King of Poland, Duke of Lorraine and a count of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a first-class-only Trans Europ Express (TEE) until 1982, and then a two-class ""Rapide"" until its discontinuance in about 1988. The ""Stanislas""'s route was the long Paris–Strasbourg railway, with just the following stops: The ""Stanislas"" was introduced on 26 September 1971, to complement an"
"LGV Nord The LGV Nord (Ligne à Grande Vitesse) is a French -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed of , the line appreciably shortened rail journeys between Paris and Lille. Its extensions to the north (Belgium, the Channel Tunnel) and the south (via the LGV Interconnexion Est) have reduced journey times to Great Britain and Benelux and for inter-regional trips between the Nord (Pas de Calais) region and the southeast and southwest of France. Its route is twinned with the A1 for"
"(star) spider-web of rail with reaches to (and through) all of France's borders. This pattern is still very visible in France's modern railway map. As far as national and European destinations are concerned, rail transport is beginning to outdistance air travel in both travel time and efficiency. The still-developing SNCF's TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) network, since its birth in 1981, brings France's most southerly Marseille only 3 hours from the capital. A train similar to the TGV, the Eurostar, has been connecting Paris to central London through 2h 15 of rail since 1994, and in the opposite direction, the"
"proposals in co-operation with Trenitalia to run services from Paris to Strasbourg, London and Brussels. Spanish railway operator RENFE said in 2009 that it was interested in running AVE services from Spain to London via Paris, Lyon, Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon (using the Madrid–Barcelona high-speed rail line) once its AVE network was connected to France via the Barcelona to Figueres and Perpignan to Figueres lines in 2012. In February 2010, local councillors from Kent and Pas-de-Calais announced they were in talks to establish a frequent local rail service between the regional stations along the route. Trains would leave Lille and"
"TGV The TGV (, ""high-speed train"") is France's intercity high-speed rail service, operated by the SNCF, the state-owned national rail operator. The SNCF started working on a high-speed rail network in 1966 and later presented the project to President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who approved it. Originally designed as turbotrains to be powered by gas turbines, TGV prototypes evolved into electric trains with the 1973 oil crisis. In 1976 the SNCF ordered 87 high-speed trains from GEC-Alstom. Following the inaugural service between Paris and Lyon in 1981 on the LGV Sud-Est (LGV for ""Ligne à Grande Vitesse""; ""high-speed line""), the network,"