04/09/2007

High Speed London To Paris Line Opens

A Eurostar train has set a new record time for travelling between Paris and London along a new high-speed line.

Members of the media travelled on the line, which is known as High Speed 1, and the train arrived in London at midday.

The train travelled from Gare du Nord in Paris and arrived at St Pancras International station for the first time, instead of Waterloo.

The train took two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds to complete its journey today and the train reached speeds of up to 200mph in Britain and up to 202mph in France.

The journey along the new line is expected to cut around 20 minutes off the traditional travelling time, meaning that the journey should take around 2 hours 15 mins.

The train also passed through the new Ebbsfleet International station, near Dartford in Kent.

Both St Pancras International and Ebbsfleet International are both scheduled to open to the public in November.

Construction of the new line, coupled with improvements to St Pancras cost £5.8 billion.

The line runs for 68 miles from the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone to St Pancras.

Commenting on the opening of the new high-speed line, Eurostar's Chief Executive Richard Brown said: "Today marks Britain's entry into the European high-speed rail club.

"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."

(KMcA/SP)

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