Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed passenger rail service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains cross under the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel.
The London terminal is St Pancras, with calling points at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with the main Paris terminus at Gare du Nord. Trains to Belgium terminate at Brussels-South railway station. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée - Chessy, and to seasonal destinations in southern France.
The service is operated by the eponymous eighteen-carriage Class 373/1 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, and newer lines enabling faster journeys were added later—HSL 1 in Belgium and High Speed 1 in southern England. The French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and other 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 transferred from Waterloo International to St Pancras International.
Eurostar is operated by the national railway companies of France and Belgium, SNCF and SNCB, and by Eurostar (UK) Ltd (EUKL), a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways (LCR), which also owns the high-speed infrastructure and stations on the British side. Eurostar has become the dominant operator in cross-channel intercity passenger travel on the routes that it operates, carrying more passengers than all airlines combined. Other operators have stated an interest in purchasing EUKL, or starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. On 1 January 2010, Eurostar was incorporated as a single corporate entity called Eurostar International, replacing the joint operation between EUKL, SNCF and SNCB.
Conception & Planning
The history of Eurostar can be traced to the 1986 choice of a rail tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France. A previous attempt at constructing a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974, but in January 1975 the project was cancelled by the British government over disagreements with the construction companies and spiralling costs during a difficult economic period. Ideas for such a tunnel underneath the English Channel had been proposed as early as 1802; the first serious attempt at building a tunnel, in 1881, was abandoned due to a hostile press seeing the tunnel as compromising Britain's natural defences against military attack. Eurotunnel was created to manage and own the tunnel, and TransManche Link created as the joint construction consortium to build the project. Construction of the physical tunnel began in 1988, and was finished five years later, in 1993, the official opening taking place in May 1994.
In addition to the tunnel's shuttle trains carrying cars and lorries between Folkestone and Calais, the decision to construct a railway tunnel provided for through passenger and freight train services to places further afield. British Rail and SNCF contracted with Eurotunnel to use half the tunnel's capacity. In 1987 Britain, France and Belgium set up an International Project Group to specify a train providing an international high-speed service through the tunnel. France had been operating high-speed TGV services since 1981, and had begun construction of a new high-speed line between Paris and the Channel Tunnel, LGV Nord; TGV technology was chosen as the basis for the trains. An order for 30 trainsets was placed in December 1989. Testing of the new trains revealed problems on the 750V third-rail system in Kent. The trains were designed to shut down if causing electrical interference with signalling, and this happened frequently, but the problem was solved before services began. On 20 June 1993, the first Eurostar test train travelled through the tunnel to the UK.
Launch of Service
On 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels-South railway station in Brussels. In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average end-to-end speed of 171.5 km/h (106.6 mph) 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.
On 23 September 2003 passenger services began running on the first completed section of High Speed 1. Following a high-profile glamorous opening ceremony and a large advertising campaign, on 14 November 2007 Eurostar services in London transferred from Waterloo to the brand new St Pancras International.
Records
The Channel Tunnel used by Eurostar services holds the record for having the longest undersea section anywhere in the world, as well as being the second longest tunnel in the world. A Eurostar train set a new British speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph) on the first section of High Speed 1 on 30 July 2003, two months before services began running upon the first section of High Speed 1.
On 16 May 2006 Eurostar set a new record for the longest non-stop high-speed journey, a distance of 1,421 kilometres (883 mi) 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, the train was the first passenger-carrying arrival at St Pancras International station. On 20 September 2007, Eurostar broke another record as it completed the journey from Brussels to London in 1 hour, 43 minutes.
Regional Eusostar & Nightstar
The original proposals for Eurostar included direct services to Paris and Brussels from cities north of London (NoL): Manchester via Birmingham on the West Coast Main Line and Glasgow via Edinburgh, Newcastle and York on the East Coast Main Line. Seven shorter NoL Eurostar trains for these Regional Eurostar services were built, but these services never ran. Perhaps predicted journey times of almost nine hours for Glasgow to Paris at the time of growth of low-cost air travel during the 1990s made the plans commercially unviable against the cheaper and quicker airlines. Other reasons that have been suggested for these services having never been run were both government policies and the disruptive privatisation of British Rail. Three of the Regional Eurostar units were leased by Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) to increase domestic services from London King's Cross to York and later Leeds. The leases ended in December 2005, and most of the NoL sets have since been transferred to SNCF for TGV services in northern France.
An international Nightstar sleeper train was also planned; this would have travelled the same routes as Regional Eurostar, plus the Great Western Main Line to Cardiff. These were also deemed commercially unviable, and the scheme was abandoned with no services ever operated. In 2000 the coaches were sold to Via Rail in Canada.
Ashford International
Ashford International station was the original station for Eurostar services in Kent. Once Ebbsfleet International railway station, also designed to serve the Kent region, had opened, only three trains a day to Paris and one to Disneyland Paris called at Ashford for a considerable amount of time. There were fears that services at Ashford International might be further reduced or withdrawn altogether as Eurostar planned to make Ebbsfleet the new regional hub instead. However, after a period during which no Brussels trains served the station, to the dissatisfaction of the local communities, on 23 February 2009 Eurostar re-introduced a single daily Ashford to Brussels service. Some critics have remained sceptical, as very few ticket distributors sell tickets either coming from or going to Ashford International.
Services
Eurostar offers seventeen weekday London–Paris services (twenty on Fridays) including six non-stop (eight on Fridays), and eleven London–Brussels services including three running non-stop. In addition, there is one daily round-trip London–Disneyland Paris and two seasonal services: from July to September there is a weekly London–Ashford–Avignon service, and in the winter twice-weekly "snow trains", aimed at skiers, to Bourg-Saint-Maurice, Aime-la-Plagne and Moutiers in the Alps; one runs overnight and the other is a daytime round-trip. Intermediate stations are Ebbsfleet International in northwest Kent, Ashford International in southeast Kent, and Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe in northern France.
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; at a cost of £800 million it was extensively rebuilt and extended to cope with 394-metre (431 yd) long Eurostar trains. It had originally been intended to retain some Eurostar services at Waterloo International terminal, but this was ruled out on cost grounds. Completion of High Speed 1 has increased the potential number of trains serving London. However, the main bottleneck to intercontinental traffic has remained the Channel Tunnel. Separation of Eurostar from British domestic services through Kent meant that timetabling was no longer affected by peak-hour restrictions.
Fares
Eurostar's fares were significantly higher in its early years; the cheapest fare in 1994 was £99 return. In 2002, Eurostar was planning cheaper fares, an example of which was an offer of £50 day returns from London to Paris or Brussels. By March 2003, the cheapest fare from the UK was £59 return, available all year around. In June 2009 it was announced that one-way single fares would be available at £31 at the cheapest. Competition between Eurostar and airline services was a large factor in ticket prices being reduced from the initial levels. Business Premier fares also slightly undercut air fares on similar routes, targeted at regular business travellers. In 2009, Eurostar greatly increased its budget ticket availability to help maintain and grow its dominant market share. The Eurostar ticketing system is very complex, being distributed through no fewer than 48 individual sales systems. Eurostar is a member of the Amadeus CRS distribution system, making its tickets available alongside those of airlines worldwide.
First class on Eurostar is called Business Premier; perks include guaranteed faster checking-in and meals being personally served at the seat of your choice, as well as the improved furnishings and interior of Business Premier carriages. The rebranding is part of Eurostar's marketing drive to attract more business professionals. Increasingly, business people in a group have been chartering private carriages as opposed to individual seats on the train.
Service Connections
Without the operation of Regional Eurostar services using the North of London trainsets across the rest of Britain, Eurostar has developed its connections with other transport services instead, such as integrating effectively with traditional UK rail operators' schedules and routes, making it possible for passengers to easily use Eurostar as a quick connection to further destinations on the continent. All three main terminals used by the Eurostar service – St Pancras International, Paris Gare du Nord, and Brussels Midi/Zuid – are heavily served by domestic trains and by local urban transport networks such as the London Underground and the Paris Metro. Standard Eurostar tickets include several free connections, such as between the terminal for Eurostar services at Brussels Midi/Zuid and any other station in Belgium.
Eurostar has announced several partnerships with other rail services, most notably Thalys connections at Lille and Brussels for passengers to go further than current Eurostar routes, such as to the Netherlands and Germany. In 2002, Eurostar initiated the Eurostar-Plus program, offering connecting tickets for onward journeys from Lille and Paris to dozens of destinations in France. Through fares are also available from 68 British towns and cities to destinations in France and Belgium. In May 2009 Eurostar announced that a formal connection to Switzerland had been established in a partnership between Eurostar and Lyria, which operates TGVs from Paris to Switzerland.
Controls & Security
Because the UK is not part of the Schengen Agreement, and because France and Belgium are not part of the Common Travel Area, all Eurostar passengers must submit to border and luggage controls. Both the British Government and the Schengen governments concerned (Belgium and France) have legal obligations to check the travel documents of those entering their respective countries. Eurostar passengers travelling inside the Schengen Area (mainly from Brussels to Lille) are also checked by UK Border Agency within Belgian territory, since there is no way of separating them out from Brussels–London passengers. When the tripartite agreements were signed, the Belgian Government said that it had serious questions about the compatibility of this agreement with the Schengen Convention and the principle of free movement of people enshrined in various European Treaties. On 30 June 2009 Eurostar raised concerns at the Commons Home Affairs select committee that it was illegal under French law for the collection of information desired by the UK government under the e-Borders scheme, and they would be unable to cooperate.
On several occasions, people have illegally tried to stow away onboard the train, sometimes in large groups, trying to enter the UK; hence border monitoring and security is extremely tight. Eurostar claims to have good and well-funded security measures. In comparison to security at airports, security at Eurostar is less time-consuming for the passenger.
Performance
Eurostar's punctuality has fluctuated from year to year, but usually remains over 90%; in the first quarter of 1999, 89% of services operated were on time, and in the second quarter it reached 92%. Eurostar's best punctuality record was 97.35%, set between 16 and 22 August 2004. In 2006, it was 92.7%, and in 2007, 91.5% were on time. In the first quarter of 2009, 96% of Eurostar services were punctual compared with rival air routes' 76%.
An advantage held by Eurostar is the convenience and speed of the service; with quicker boarding and high punctuality, it takes less time to get between central London and central Paris by high-speed rail than it does by air. Eurostar now has a dominant share of the combined rail–air market on its three-capitals routes. In 2004, it had a 66% share of the London–Paris market, and a 59% share of the London–Brussels market. In 2007, it achieved record market shares of 71% for London–Paris and 65% for London–Brussels routes.
Eurostar's passenger numbers initially failed to meet predictions. In 1996, London and Continental Railways forecast numbers would reach 21.4 million annually by 2004, but only 7.3 million was achieved. 82 million passengers used Waterloo International Station from its opening in 1994 to its closure in 2007. 2008 was a record year for Eurostar with a 10.3% rise in passenger use, which was attributed to the use of High Speed 1 and the move to St Pancras. The following year, Eurostar saw an 11.5% fall in passenger numbers during the first three months of 2009, which was attributed to the 2008 Channel Tunnel fire and the 2009 recession. As a result of the poor economic conditions, Eurostar received state aid in May 2009 to cancel out some of the accumulated debt from the High Speed 1 construction program.
In 2006, the Department for Transport predicted that, by 2037, annual cross-channel passenger numbers would probably reach 16 million, considerably less optimistic than London and Continental Railways's original 1996 forecast. In 2007 Eurostar set a target of carrying 10 million passengers by 2010. The company cited several factors to support this objective, such as improved journey times, punctuality and station facilities. Passengers in general, it states, are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental effects of air travel, and Eurostar services in comparison emit much less carbon dioxide. and that its remaining carbon emissions are now offset, making its services carbon neutral. Continued expansion of the high-speed rail network in Europe, such as the HSL-Zuid line between Belgium and the Netherlands, continues to bring more destinations within rail-competitive range, giving Eurostar the possibility of opening up new services in future.
Organisation
Eurostar services are unified under a management called the Eurostar Group formed in 1999. In each country, a different company undertakes Eurostar local operations. In Belgium this is done by the national railway company NMBS/SNCB, similarly in France by the state-owned rail operator SNCF; however, in the United Kingdom ownership of this portion of the Eurostar Group, known as Eurostar (UK) Ltd (EUKL), is more complex and relatively in a state of flux. EUKL is owned by London and Continental Railways (LCR) and managed under contract by InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR), which in turn is a consortium of National Express Group, SNCF, NMBS/SNCB, and British Airways.
Eurostar is a member of Railteam, a marketing alliance formed in July 2007 of seven European high-speed rail operators, including Thalis. The alliance plans to allow tickets to be booked from one end of Europe to the other on a single website. In June 2009 London and Continental Railways, and the Eurostar UK operations they held ownership of, became fully nationalised by the UK government.
Competition
In 2010 the European Union's liberalisation of international rail travel is taking place, breaking previous monopolies in order to encourage competition for services between countries. This has sparked interest among other companies in providing services in competition to Eurostar's and new services to destinations beyond Paris and Brussels. The only rail carrier to formally propose and get permission for such a service is currently Deutsche Bahn, which intends to run services between London and Germany. The sale of High Speed One by the British Government having effectively nationalised LCR in June 2009 is also likely to stimulate competition upon the line.
On March 22, 2010, it was announced that Eurotunnel was in discussions with Intergovernment Commission, which oversees the tunnel, with the aim of amending elements of the safety code governing the tunnel's usage. Most saliently, there is a proposal to remove the requirement that trains be able to split within the tunnel, and each part of the train be driven out to opposite ends. If adopted, this change will lead to smaller trains being able to transit the tunnel. Eurotunnel Chairman & Chief Executive Jacques Gounon said that experience gained from the disruptions of December, 2009, had shown that shorter trains are also easier to evacuate in an emergency. He also went on to say that he was hopeful that the liberalization of rules would allow the entry to the market of competitors such as Deutsche Bahn. Sources at Eurotunnel suggested that Deutsche Bahn could enter the market at the next timetable change, which would be December, 2012.