High Speed 1

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High Speed 1
Info
Type	High-speed railway
Locale	United Kingdom
Termini	London St Pancras Channel Tunnel
Stations	4
Operation
Opened	2003 (Phase 1) 2007 (Phase 2)
Owner	London & Continental Railways
Operator(s)	Eurostar, Southeastern, DB Schenker
Rolling stock	British Rail Class 373 British Rail Class 395 British Rail Class 92 (from 2010)[1]
Technical
Line length	108 km (67 mi)
No. of tracks	Double track throughout
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz OHLE
Operating speed	300 km/h (186 mph) 230 km/h (143 mph)[2][3]

v • d • e High Speed One / CTRL

Legend West Coast Main Line Midland Main Line 0 km London St Pancras North London Line Thameslink 2000 tunnels East Coast Main Line London west tunnel 7.5 km Temple Mills Eurostar Depot (single track) 9 km Stratford International Temple Mills Line 10 km London east tunnel 10 km 21 km Ripple Lane freight connection Rainham viaduct 0.5 km 27 km Aveley viaduct 1 km 30 km Thurrock viaduct (A282) (1.2 km) 32 km River Thames tunnel (2.5 km) 37 km Ebbsfleet International North Kent Line Phase 1 - Phase 2 boundary 39 km Fawkham Junction link line to Chatham Main Line for London Waterloo 50km Medway Viaduct (1.2km) over Chatham Main Line over Medway Valley Line over River Medway 54 km North Downs Tunnel (3.2 km) 88 km Ashford cut and cover tunnel (1.5 km) Maidstone East Line South Eastern Main Line 89 km 90 km Ashford International Marshlink Line Ashford CTRL-DS Depot (Hitachi) Ashford to Ramsgate 91 km Ashford Flyover (1.5 km) South Eastern Main Line 106 km Dollands Moor Freight terminal M20 108 km CTRL/Eurotunnel boundary Cheriton Shuttle Terminal (Folkestone) 109 km Channel Tunnel to LGV Nord France–UK border

High Speed 1 (HS1), officially known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a 108-kilometre (67-mile) high-speed railway line running from London through Kent to the British end of the Channel Tunnel.

The second and final section of the line, travelling across the River Thames and into London St Pancras, opened on 14 November 2007.^[4] Built at a cost of £5.2bn, the new link allows trains to travel at speeds of 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph),^[5] cutting pre-2003 Eurostar journey times by 40 minutes and increasing service frequency. It is now possible to travel from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes, and to Brussels South in 1 hour 51 minutes.^[6]

There are intermediate stations at Ashford International and Ebbsfleet, and one at Stratford which opened to domestic services in November 2009.^[7]

In addition to international Eurostar services, domestic high speed commuter services commenced fully on 13 December 2009, a preview service having started in June 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 trains are able to reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour (140 mph).

Contents 1 Early history 2 The project 3 Route 3.1 St Pancras International 3.2 London Tunnels 3.3 Stratford International 3.4 Connection to Waterloo 3.5 Ebbsfleet International 3.6 Ashford International 4 Operators 4.1 Eurostar 4.2 Southeastern 4.3 DB Schenker 4.4 Future Operations 4.5 ICE 5 Additional information 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] Early history

A high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnel's opening in 1994.^[8] This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h (186 mph) for this part of their journey. A similar high-speed line from the French border to Brussels, HSL 1, opened in 1997.^[9][10] However, in Britain Eurostar trains had to run at much lower speeds on existing tracks between London and the Channel Tunnel.^[11] These tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, as well as their timings. The elderly nature of some of this rail infrastructure caused a disproportionate number of delays, limiting the potential and appeal of the Eurostar service.^[12] The case for a High Speed line of equal caliber to the continental part of the route was recognised by lawmakers and advised by industry,^[13] and the construction of the line was authorised by Parliament with the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996^[14] which was amended by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (Supplementary Provisions) Act 2008.^[15][16]

The original plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, and an underground terminus in the vicinity of Kings Cross station. However a late change in the plans, principally driven by the then deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine's desire for urban regeneration in East London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east. This opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station.^[17]

The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then transport secretary, John MacGregor, as difficult to construct and environmentally damaging.^[18] However the idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 20 km (12 miles) of specially built tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford.^[17]

London and Continental Railways (LCR) was selected by the UK government in 1996 to undertake construction of the line, as well as the reconstruction of St Pancras station as its terminus, and to take over the British share of the Eurostar operation, Eurostar (UK). The original LCR consortium members were National Express Group, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric.^[19][20] Whilst the project was under development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways, which became a wholly owned subsidiary of LCR. On 14 November 2006, LCR assigned High Speed 1 as the brand name for the completed railway.^[21] Official legislation, documentation and line-side signage has continued to refer to "CTRL" however.

[edit] The project

The legal framework for the new railway line lies in the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996^[14] providing construction powers that ran for the following 10 years. Originally the whole route was to be constructed as a single project. However extensive changes came when the British government had to put together a rescue plan. In 1998 serious financial difficulties had been encountered, the future looked uncertain for the project.^[22] To reduce risk it was split into two separate phases,^[23] to be managed by Union Railways (South) and Union Railways (North). A recovery programme was agreed whereby LCR sold government-backed bonds worth £1.6bn to pay for the construction of section 1, with the future of section 2 still looking in doubt.

The original intention had been for the new railway, once completed, to be run by Union Railways as a separate line to the rest of the British railway network. However as part of the 1998 rescue plan it was agreed that, following completion, section 1 would be purchased by Railtrack, along with an option to purchase section 2. In return, Railtrack was committed to operate the whole route as well as St Pancras railway station which, unlike all other former British Rail stations, was transferred to LCR/Union Railways in 1996.^[24]

In 2001, Railtrack announced that, due to its own financial problems, it would not undertake to purchase section 2 once it was completed.^[25][26][27] This triggered a second restructuring.^[28] The 2002 plan agreed that the two sections would have different infrastructure owners (Railtrack for section 1, LCR for section 2) but with common management by Railtrack. Following yet further financial problems at Railtrack^[29] its interest in the CTRL was sold back to LCR who then sold the operating rights for the completed line to Network Rail, Railtrack's successor.^[30] Under this arrangement LCR will become the sole owner of both sections of the CTRL and the St Pancras property, as per the original 1996 plan. Amendments were made in 2001 for the new station at Stratford International and through connections to the West Coast Main Line.

As a consequence of the project's restructuring the LCR consortium is, as of 2006^[update], construction firms Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra (who form Rail Link Engineering (RLE)), transport operators National Express Group and SNCF (who operate the Eurostar (UK) share of the Eurostar service with the National Railway Company of Belgium and British Airways), electricity company EDF and UBS Investment Bank. On completion of section 1 by RLE, the line was handed over to Union Railways (South), who then handed it over to London & Continental Stations and Property (LCSP) who are the long term owners of the line. Once section 2 of the line had been completed it was handed over to Union Railways (North) who handed it over to LCSP. Management, operation and maintenance of the entire line, including St Pancras, is undertaken by Network Rail.

In February 2006 there were strong rumours that a 'third party' (believed to be a consortium headed by banker Sir Adrian Montague) had expressed an interest in buying out the present partners in the project.^[31] LCR shareholders subsequently rejected the proposal,^[32] and the Government, who effectively could overule shareholders' decisions as a result of LCR's reclassification as a state-owned body,^[33] decided that discussions with shareholders would not take place imminently, effectively backing shareholders' views on the proposed takeover.^[32]

On 12 October 2009 a proposal to sell 16-billion-pounds of state assets including the Channel Tunnel rail link to cut UK public debt was announced.^[34]

[edit] Route

Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, opened on 28 September 2003, is a 74 km (46 mile) section of high-speed track from the Channel Tunnel to Fawkham Junction in north Kent. The section's completion cut the London–Paris journey time by around 21 minutes, to 2h 35mn. The line includes the Medway Viaduct, a 1.2 km (¾ mile) bridge over the River Medway and the North Downs Tunnel, a 3.2 km (2 mile) long, 12 m (40 ft) diameter tunnel. In safety testing on the section prior to opening, a new UK rail speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph) was set.^[35] Much of the new high-speed line runs alongside the M2 and M20 motorways through Kent. After completion, Eurostar trains continued to use suburban lines to enter London, arriving at Waterloo International.

Section 2 of the project opened on 14 November 2007 and is a 39.4 km (24 mile) stretch of track from the newly built Ebbsfleet station in Kent to London St Pancras. Completion of the section cut journey times by a further 20 minutes (London–Paris in 2h 15m; London–Brussels in 1h 51m). The route starts with a 2.5 km (1.5 mile) tunnel which dives under the Thames near Dartford, then runs alongside the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway as far as Dagenham, where it enters a 19 km (12 mile) tunnel (51°31′36.9″N 0°8′13.9″E / 51.526917°N 0.137194°E / 51.526917; 0.137194), before emerging over the East Coast Main Line near St Pancras. The tunnels are divided into London East and London West sections, between which a 1 km stretch runs close to the surface to serve Stratford International and the Temple Mills Depot.

The new depot at Temple Mills, to the north of Stratford, replaced the North Pole depot in the west of London.^[36] In testing, the first Eurostar train ran into St Pancras on 6 March 2007.^[37] All CTRL connections are fully grade-separate. This is achieved through use of viaducts, bridges, cuttings and in one case, the tunnel portal itself. Along the route, several key and unique design features have emerged.

[edit] St Pancras International

The terminus for the high speed line in London is St Pancras railway station. During the 2000s, towards the end of the construction of the CTRL, the entire station complex was renovated, expanded and rebranded as St Pancras International,^[38][39] with a new security-sealed terminal area for Eurostar trains to continental Europe.^{[citation needed]} In addition it retained traditional domestic connections to the north and south of England. The new extension doubled the length of the central platforms now used for Eurostar services; new platforms have been provided for existing domestic East Midlands Trains and the Southeastern high-speed services that run along High Speed 1 to Kent.^[40] New platforms on the Thameslink line across London were built beneath the western margins of the station and the station at King's Cross Thameslink was closed.

A complex junction has been constructed north of St Pancras with connections to the East Coast Main Line, North London Line (for West Coast Main Line) and Midland Main Line, allowing for a wide variety of potential destinations albeit on conventional rails. As part of the works, tunnels connecting the East Coast Main Line to the Thameslink route were also built.

[edit] London Tunnels

After local protests, early plans were modified to put more of the route into tunnels up until a point approximately 1-mile (2 km) from St. Pancras, previously the CTRL was planned to run on an elevated section alongside the North London Line on approach into the line's terminus. The twin tunnels bored under London were driven from Stratford westwards towards St Pancras, eastwards towards Dagenham and from Dagenham westwards to connect with the tunnel from Stratford. The tunnel boring machines were 120 m long and weighed 1,100 tonnes. The depth of the tunnel varies from 24 m to 50 m.

[edit] Stratford International

The tunnel sections under London are interrupted by the new Stratford International railway station, which was not part of the original government plans for the CTRL.^[41] Completed in April 2006, it opened on the 30 November 2009 when the domestic preview Southeastern highspeed services started stopping here.^[42]. An extension of the Docklands Light Railway will open mid-2010, after which some Eurostar international services are expected to stop. It will also be the railway station for the main site where the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held.^[43] Temple Mills Depot,51°33′36.4″N 0°1′21.8″W / 51.560111°N 0.022722°W / 51.560111; -0.022722 where the Eurostar trains are stored and serviced, is adjacent and is accessed via a concourse running through the station.

[edit] Connection to Waterloo

A 4 km (2.4 mile) connecting line providing access for Waterloo railway station leaves High Speed 1 at Southfleet Junction using a grade-separated junction; the main CTRL tracks continue uninterrupted through to CTRL Section 2 underneath the southbound flyover. The connection joins the Chatham Main Line at Fawkham Junction with a flat crossing. The retention of Eurostar services to Waterloo after the line to St Pancras opened was ruled out on cost grounds.^[44] Waterloo International closed upon opening of the section two of the CTRL in November 2007; Eurostar now serves the refurbished St Pancras as its only London terminal.^[45][46]

[edit] Ebbsfleet International

Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the borough of Dartford, Kent, 10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London. The station opened to the public on 19 November 2007.^[47] Two of the platforms are designed to serve Eurostar's International trains and four platforms are available for high speed domestic services running upon the line.^[48] Since the opening of Ebbsfleet, Ashford International has seen a reduction in trains serving the station there,^[49] as Ebbsfleet is designed to take over as the main regional hub used by Eurostar.^[50][51][52]

[edit] Ashford International

Unlike normal LGV stations in France, the through tracks for Ashford International railway station are off to one side rather than going through, partly due to Ashford International predating the line.^[53] High Speed 1 approaches Ashford International from the north in a cut-and-cover "box"; the south-bound line rises out of this cutting and crosses over the main tracks to enter the station. The main tracks then rise out of the cutting and over a flyover. On leaving Ashford, southbound Eurostars return to the high speed line by travelling under this flyover and joining from the outside. The international platforms at Ashford are supplied with both overhead 25 kV and 3rd rail, avoiding the need to switch power-supplies.

[edit] Operators

[edit] Eurostar

The Eurostar service uses about 40% of the capacity of High Speed 1,^[54] and after the opening of the line in November 2007 the company's route for all their services.^[55] Trains run by Eurostar are for international traffic only, passing along the high speed line from London St Pancras railway station to the Channel Tunnel, terminating at either Paris Gare de Nord in France or Brussels Midi-Zuid in Belgium.^[56][57] Currently the trains operated by Eurostar are the only ones to make full use of the high speeds upon the line; a Eurostar train was used to set a new British rail speed record of 334.7 km/h (208 mph) on 30 July 2003.^[58][59] The British component of Eurostar is owned by London and Continental Railways, which also owns High Speed 1 and the infrastructure upon it.^[60]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 373 Eurostar		Electric multiple unit	186	300	28	London–Paris London–Brussels London–Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy London–Avignon Centre London–Bourg Saint Maurice	1992

[edit] Southeastern

The domestic high speed services upon High Speed 1 are provided by the operator Southeastern. Having been in planning since 2004,^[61] a preview service of the British Rail Class 395 trains, popularly known Javelins, started in June 2009,^[48] and a regular service commenced on 13 December 2009. The quickest journey time from Ashford to London St Pancras is 35 minutes^[62] compared with 60 minutes for the service to London Charing Cross via Tonbridge.^[63] This service on Section 2 of the CTRL, known previously as CTRL-DS, was a factor in London's successful 2012 Olympic Bid, promising a seven-minute journey time from the Olympic Park at Stratford to the London terminus at St Pancras.^[64] Although much of the train's route upon High Speed 1 is capable of 300 km/h (186 mph), the maximum operating speed of the train is limited to 225 km/h (140 mph) and designed for very fast acceleration due to the short distance between stations and the service patterns.^{[citation needed]}

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Routes operated	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 395 Javelin		Electric multiple unit	140	225	29	St Pancras–Stratford International- Ebbsfleet International-Ashford International-Ramsgate/ Dover Priory.[65]	2007

[edit] DB Schenker

DB Schenker is a global freight operator with a large interest in freight over rail in Europe.^[66] While High Speed 1 was constructed with passing loops for freight usage,^[67] no freight traffic had run upon the line since opening in 2003.^[68] On 16 April 2009 DB Schenker signed an agreement with HS1 Ltd, the owner of High Speed 1, for a partnership to develop TVM modifications for class 92 freight locomotives to run upon the line.^[69] Freight services are expected to begin early in 2010, after the signalling technology is made available to all potential operators,^[69] and the necessary logistics and support infrastructure to serve freight operations.^[70]

Class	Image	Type	Top speed		Number	Built
			mph	km/h
Class 92		Electric locomotive	87	140	46	1993

[edit] Future Operations

[edit] ICE

Deutsche Bahn (the parent company of ICE) have been given permission to run their High Speed trains through the Channel Tunnel, giving them access to High Speed 1. Eurotunnel (the owners of the Channel Tunnel) said: "Deutsche Bahn fulfills all the conditions for transporting passengers via the tunnel, adding that the German railway company was now welcome to do so". This means that through journeys which have been aspired by Deutsche Bahn can now commence from London to Germany.^[71]

[edit] Additional information

The CTRL project was one of the United Kingdom's largest civil engineering projects, encompassing many new bridges and combined tunnels nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself. During the construction of the CTRL a major archaeology project was conducted alongside the work.^[72] In 2002 the CTRL project was awarded the "Major Project Award" at the British Construction Industry Awards.^[73]

Both track and signalling technology (TVM-430 + KVB) are based on or identical to the standards used on the French LGV high-speed lines. The areas around St. Pancras and Gare du Nord use KVB signalling with the whole of the high-speed route to Paris (CTRL, Channel Tunnel, LGV Nord) using TVM-430. Signalling tests before opening were performed by the SNCF-owned "Lucie" test car.^[74]

The construction works were complex and a large number of contractors have been involved in delivering them.^[75] The CTRL Section 2 construction works have been causing considerable disruption around the Kings Cross area of London, but are bringing in their wake much redevelopment.^[76][77] The huge redevelopment area includes the run-down areas of post-industrial and ex-railway land close to King's Cross and St Pancras, a conservation area with many listed buildings, this was promoted as one of the benefits for building the CTRL.^[78] However it has been postulated that this development was actually suppressed by the construction project,^[79] and some of the affected districts are still in a poor state.^[80]

There were a number of deaths of employees working on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link over the nine year and one month period of construction. A death occurred on Friday 28 March 2003 near Westernhanger, Folkestone where a worker came into contact with the energised power supply.^[81] Another death occurred in May 2003 when a scaffolder fell seven metres at Thurrock, Essex.^[82] This death resulted in three companies being found guilty of breaching health and safety legislation, omitting to provide barriers, which resulted in Deverson Direct Ltd of Stickfast Lane, Bobbing, Sittingbourne, Kent being ordered to pay £50,000 in fines and £5,851 costs; J Murphy and Sons Ltd of Highgate Road, London being ordered to pay £25,000 and costs of £2,925.50 and Hochtief Aktiengesellschaft of Windmill Hill Business Park, Whitehill Way, Swindon being ordered to pay £25,000 and costs of £2,925.50.^[82] Two more deaths relate to a fire onboard a train carrying wires, one mile inside a tunnel under the Thames between Swanscombe, Kent, and Thurrock, Essex on Tuesday 16 August 2005. The train shunter died at the scene^[83] and the train driver later died in hospital on 20 August 2005.^[84] It has been suggested that a large amount of blame for accidents throughout the project lay with individual behaviour, becoming such a problem an internal programme was launched to tackle behaviour problems during the construction.^[85]

On 4 September 2007, a train travelled from Paris Gare du Nord to St. Pancras in 2 hours 3 minutes and 39 seconds.^[86] On 19 September 2007, a train travelled from Brussels South to St. Pancras in 1 hour 43 minutes.^[87]

[edit] See also

• Megaproject
• Rail transport in the United Kingdom
• Transport in London
• High Speed 2

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Young, George; Alison Gorlov (1995). Channel Tunnel Rail Link. Union Railways. 
• National Audit Office (2001). Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The Stationery Office. ISBN 0102868018. 
• National Audit Office (2005). Progress on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. The Stationery Office. ISBN 010293343X. 
• Montagu, Samuel; Department of Transport (1993). Channel Tunnel Rail Link. HMSO. 
• Bertolini, Luca; Tejo Spit (1998). Cities on rails: the redevelopment of railway station areas. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0419227601. 

[edit] Further reading

• Pielow, Simon (1997). Eurostar. Ian Allan. ISBN 071102-451-0. 
• Anderson, Graham; Roskrow, Ben (1994). The Channel Tunnel Story. London: E & F N Spon. ISBN 041919620X. 
• European Commission Directorate-General for Regional Policy and Cohesion (1996). The regional impact of the Channel Tunnel throughout the Community. Luxembourg: European Commission. ISBN 92 826 8804 6. 
• Sievert, Terri (2002). The World's Fastest Trains. Capstone Press. ISBN 073681-061-7. 
• Griffiths, Jeanne (1995). London to Paris in Ten Minutes: The Eurostar Story. Images. ISBN 189781-747-9. 
• Comfort, Nicholas (2007). The Channel Tunnel and its High Speed Links. Oakwood Press. ISBN 156554-854-x. 
• {{wikicite|id=Parliament|reference=Parliament: House of Commons Transport Committee (2008). Delivering a Sustainable Railway. The Stationery Office. ISBN 021552-222-2. 
• Mitchell, Vic (1996). Ashford: From Steam to Eurostar. Middleton Press. ISBN 187379-367-7. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Channel Tunnel Rail Link

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: High Speed 1

• Highspeed 1 Website
• Eurostar Website
• Southeastern Website
• Eurotunnel Website
• Rail Link Engineering (Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow Systra) Website
• London and Continental Railways Website (requires Flash)
• Trade article
• Guardian Unlimited Interactive Guide to the CTRL (requires Flash)
• Rail enthusiast's site

Crossings of River Thames West: Dartford Crossing High Speed 1 East: Gravesend - Tilbury Ferry

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