04/09/2007 11:15:24
A Eurostar train is today making the first direct run from Paris’ Gare du Nord station to London’s newly-restored St Pancras terminus.
The special train will travel the full length of High Speed 1, the new 68-mile rail line that links London to the start of the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone.
Eurostar expects that today’s service will set a new record for the Paris to London journey as it carries members of the media through Kent and into London at speeds of up to 186 miles per hour. When the new route opens to passengers on 14 November it will cut the current Waterloo to Paris journey time by 20 minutes, to two hours and 15 minutes.
Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar, said: “We can now run trains at high speed all the way from the Channel Tunnel to London, making journeys between cities quicker, more convenient - and far greener than flying.”
From 14 November Eurostar hopes to offset its carbon dioxide emissions, which it also aims to reduce by 25% per passenger by 2012. The company says that travelling by Eurostar currently generates one tenth of the emissions of an equivalent journey by plane.
