Posted 7th October 2010 | 2 Comments
BREAKING NEWS: Eurostar confirms £700m order
AFTER months of secrecy, Eurostar has confirmed that it is to buy 10 Siemens trainsets for £700 million, which will be to a ‘bespoke specification’. The new e320 fleet will allow the company to extend its operations to more European cities.
An example of the new 320km/h, 900-seat train will be unveiled in Hyde Park today, at an event attended by transport secretary Philip Hammond.
Journey times on existing routes are also set to be reduced, with London to Paris, presently 2h15 on the fastest trains, coming down to ‘just over two hours’. New routes will offer such journey times as London to Amsterdam in under four hours and London to Geneva in around five hours.
The new fleet is being funded by a combination of cash and bank borrowing.
(More details follow.)
Reader Comments:
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H Harvey, Birmingham
If the British were to proceed with HS2 then Birmingham to Paris less than 3.5hrs hours
Peter Hooper, Windsor., UK
If the French were to proceed with "LGV Picardie" then this would cut another 20 minutes off the London / Paris journey, bringing it down to 1 hour 40 minutes.