UK: Leaving London Waterloo International station (closed) on Eurostar train to Paris Gare du Nord. Recorded 1st June 2007. Waterloo International station was the London terminus of the Eurostar international rail service from its opening on 14 November 1994 until 13 November 2007. It stands on the western side of Waterloo railway station, London. It was managed and branded separately from the mainline station. Designed by the architectural firm Grimshaw Architects over five years, it cost £135 million and was completed in May 1993, in time for the scheduled completion of the Channel Tunnel. Construction of the Tunnel was delayed however, and the station did not open until November 1994, when it won the Royal Institute of British Architects' Building of the Year award. Waterloo International has five platforms, numbered 20 to 24, one (20) taken from the mainline station, and four new ones, all covered by a new 400 m long glass and steel vault of 37 arches forming a prismatic structure, conceived by Anthony Hunt Associates. A two-level reception area fronts the main station concourse. The first Eurostar departure, on 14 November 1994, was formed of Eurostar units 373004/373003 and the last service left at 18.12 GMT on 13 November 2007 for Brussels. From the next day Eurostar services used their new London terminus of St Pancras International. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel. The service is operated by eighteen-coach 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 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 transferred from Waterloo International to St Pancras International. Eurostar was until 2010 operated jointly by the national railway companies of France and Belgium, SNCF and SNCB, 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 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 expressed an interest in starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ The British Rail Class 373 or TGV-TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostar's high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. Part of the TGV family, it has a smaller cross-section to fit within the constrictive British loading gauge, was originally able to operate on the UK third rail network, and has extensive fireproofing in case of fire in the tunnel. This is both the longest—394 metres (1,293 ft)—and fastest train in regular UK passenger service. Known as the TransManche Super Train (Cross-channel Super Train) during development up until start of service in 1993, the train is designated Class 373 under the British TOPS classification system and as series 373000 TGV in France. It was built by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) at its sites in La Rochelle (France), Belfort (France) and Washwood Heath (UK) and by Brugeoise et Nivelles (BN, now part of Bombardier) in Brugge. -+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ More FrontCompVidsclips are regularly added to so don't forget to Like and Subscribe! Click http://www.youtube.com/user/FrontCompVids/videos for more details :-)

• published: 04 Oct 2012
• views: 7978