First Eurostar on its way to St. Pancras

[T & P]

Eurostar has set off on its inaugural journey from Paris to London via Britain's new high-speed line.


The train - carrying members of the media - will arrive at St Pancras International station, instead of Waterloo, for the first time. The 186mph (300km/h) line is expected to cut journey times from Paris to London by 20 minutes to 2hr 15min. It will open to the public on 14 November.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6977211.stm

Saw live pictures of St. Pancras on the news this morning. It looks fucking ace.

Look forward to that O'Leary cunt stomping his feet some more.

[editor]

It's already exceeded 200mph on the test run and will take just just 2 and a quarter hours to reach Paris from London.

Marvellous stuff!

[Xanadu]

I can't wait to be able to pop to Paris for a day trip

[Belushi]

Originally Posted by Xanadu

I can't wait to be able to pop to Paris for a day trip

You already can, its only cutting the journey by 20 minutes. I've been to Brussells for the day before now in the Eurostar.

[Xanadu]

Originally Posted by Belushi

You already can, its only cutting the journey by 20 minutes. I've been to Brussells for the day before now in the Eurostar.

But it now goes to St Pancras instead of Waterloo. I can be at St Pancras in just over 10 minutes. Waterloo takes something like 45 minutes.

But I'm just inventing excuses. The truth of the matter is that I have noone willing to go with me

[T & P]

I was looking at the website earlier and if you book early enough there actually are loads of £59 return tickets up for grabs.

Very, very tempting just to drop by for an afternoon of shopping and/or strolling about.

[editor]

It's broken the Paris to London record!

"The train, carrying journalists and VIPs, arrived at St Pancras, instead of Waterloo...took two hours, three minutes, 39 seconds."

[editor]

Originally Posted by T & P

I was looking at the website earlier and if you book early enough there actually are loads of £59 return tickets up for grabs.

Very, very tempting just to drop by for an afternoon of shopping and/or strolling about.

I'm tempted too. Travelling by train to the continent still sounds impossibly exotic to me, and the fact that you can be on the train within an hour of waking up at home appeals to me no end!

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

I'm a bit sad because Waterloo was much better for me.

[Bob_the_lost]

Same, it'll take me an extra 10 minutes to get to Paris now.

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Paris is lame anyway.

[beeboo]

I'm a bit sad because Waterloo was much better for me.

Likewise, but the silver lining is that new station looks like it's going to be quite exciting.

There's something very romantic about the idea of getting a train to Paris which isn't borne out by the experience of Waterloo station. Bring on the champagne bars, I say!

[disownedspirit]

are any trains still going to run from waterloo?

st pancras is a pain in the arse if you've got to go to south london

[christonabike]

What the fuck is going to happen to the big Eurostar terminal at Waterloo?

New cardboard city?

[Tom A]

Originally Posted by christonabike

What the fuck is going to happen to the big Eurostar terminal at Waterloo?

New cardboard city?

Hopefully it will get reused for domestic commuter services. Waterloo is one of the busiest termini in London AFAIK.

[christonabike]

I expect it to be left empty for 12 years...........

[beeboo]

I think the plan is to use the Eurostar platforms for commuter services, but for a number of stupid reasons (one of which is to do with franchise arrangements I think) it's going to take years to implement. Meanwhile Waterloo remains one of the most congested stations in the country

[davesgcr]

First bit of Waterloo international goes domestic next year - it wont be wasted - ! Trust me !.

PS - its also getting gated too .....

[chio]

I wish they'd extend this high-speed thingie to the North West. If I was to use this, I'd still have to trek all the way to London on that awful west-coast line. People will just carry on flying.

[PacificOcean]

£5 billion to shave 20 minutes of the journey time?

What a waste. They could have just opened another ticket window.

[beeboo]

Originally Posted by davesgcr

First bit of Waterloo international goes domestic next year - it wont be wasted - ! Trust me !.

ooh, I stand corrected

[beeboo]

Originally Posted by PacificOcean

What a waste. They could have just opened another ticket window.

[Isambard]

Originally Posted by chio

I wish they'd extend this high-speed thingie to the North West.

Although St Pancras is less convenient for South London than Waterloo, it is better for t'North and only a short step for you from Euston Chio. I was just reading yesterday that the new East Midland franchise stipulates that the first trains into London have to be early enough so people on business can be on the continent by 9AM. Ideally of course would be through trains from major centres to Paris and Brussels but planning and investment going nowhere as the Home Office won't contemplate passport control on trains.

[Poi E]

At least you'll be able to view the trains at St P. No viewing at Waterloo.

<grabs anorak>

[Tom A]

Just did a comparison between the distance between London and Paris and London and Lancaster. Now with the new times the former takes about 30-45 less time then the latter, even though Lancaster is about 50 miles closer to London than Paris (but in t'other direction). Also compared a more similar journey (in terms of distance) on the domestic network (London-Newcastle) to London-Paris, again, about 30-45 mins difference (although the ECML is a pretty fast beastie, would be faster still if Network Rail would get off their arses and install cab signalling on the line like they do with the TGVs in France).

Which is making me wonder who much difference the CTRL will have really made, a lot of money spent for 45 minutes less time on a train...