First German ICE train into St.Pancras, Eurostar competition (19Oct10)

[frglee]

London to Cologne and Amsterdam in 3 hours by train,..

City to City-Heart to Heart. And no more of this tedious messing about with airports. Can't wait!

Maybe one day before too long,it'll be London to Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2h 30 by train!

[Lintflas]

So this will be a historic moment when the first train arrives at a station in the UK .. on time! :D

[wierdwesterner]

So this is why the UK politicians want this HS2 so badly, extend the European service from St Pancras up to Birmingham and beyond and then sell the rights to Deutsche Bahn or Eurostar.... whoever gives them the bigger pound of flesh. Snouts in the trough again, they never stop thinking of ways to line their own pockets.

[dom86juve]

about time!

[ardiansyahkaizen]

hmmm, i hope indonesian like this..

hehehehe

[Jeansschwimmer]

I could just imagine an exhibition in the National Railway Museum in Yorkor the Museum in Darlington in 2025 "200 Years of Railway" with trains - modern and historic- came from all over Europe where they use 4 ft, 8 1/2 inches gauge. All George Stephenson's children and grandchildren.

[mastersgta1]

That is sooooo cool! I live in North America and our rail network is nothing compare to what you guys have...

[ejcmoorhouse]

@MarkGronan1988 yh but who would want to go by air when you can have all that space and end up in the middle of the city instead of miles out!!?!

[barnaby1988]

@MarkGronan1988 Except, you don't need to check in 2 hours in advance, nor do you have to travel out of town. It is generally easier for most people to get to a train station in town than to get to an airport which is out of town.

[eltfell]

I wonder about one thing: The British railway system is said to have a leaner structure gauge (not be mixed up with the rail gauge) than on the continent (tunnels, platforms distance between tracks). Does the continental ICE 3 really fit into the British railway stations for example?

[dalethesnail2009]

@eltfell Very true - the UK typically has a smaller 'loading guage'. However HS1 and St Pancreas were built to the larger European standard, thus enabling the ICE and others to run, but only into London!

[will101page]

@dalethesnail2009 HS2 will be built to EU loading gauge, so do you think eurostar will go to manchester/leeds? That would be great!

Also, if all of these new EU services enter London, would that affect the frequency? I presume you can only get one train through the eurotunnel at a time, with significant time in between trains? (sorry for all the questions, you seem to know about trains!)

[dalethesnail2009]

@will101page You're right, there is a possibility of ICE European services from Northern UK cities once HS2 opens. In fact, it is already possible to run current Eurostar trains more widely on the UK network as they were built to a sleeker profile for 1994 opening. Current journey times from north of London to Europe are thought unfavourable compared to air travel though, but HS2 may change this.

[will101page]

@dalethesnail2009 Sorry, im slightly confused...are eurostar trains built to the larger EU gauge, or the smaller british one?

[dalethesnail2009]

@will101page Eurostar trains (called class 373 in technical terms) were build to the smaller UK loading gauge. This was to allow them to run on the old lines from London to Folkstone when the London to Paris service began in 1994 - the EU specification HS1 line was only opened in its entirety in 2007.

[dalethesnail2009]

@will101page There is also an issue about security arrangements at regional UK stations as passengers have to go through airport-style screen and then have a secured waiting area built for them.  Similar issues were encountered in the now defunct 'Nightstar' proposal.

Not sure about capacity in the tunnel I'm afraid. Apparently, the tunnel's capacity is is 30 train movements per hour in each direction but I'm not sure what the current figures for Eurostar/Eurotunnel vehicle trains alone.

[will101page]

@eltfell London terminals and HS1 can accomodate the larger european trains, so the EU service can fit perfectly. HS2, the new London - the North service will also be built to this larger, EU gauge, so european services could go to the north of england and scotland. Its the other lines built to a smaller gauge (due to oldest lines in the world)

[jyork85]

I hope that DB can offer better prices than Eurostar. As it stands, I would fly to Paris from London because its cheaper. Eurostar is a rip off.

[llmorbvsll]

Some here are talking about the trains being slower than an aircraft. True! But: Check-In, Boarding, Taxi -> 2 - 3h gone before the plane has taken off -> landing, baggage claim, public transport to city centre -> at least another 60 mins. So the train has at least 3, maybe 4h advantage in which a flight passenger is just waiting. Plus: You can actually use phones / wlan etc. in a train. So it's not bad I suppose.

[CBeaumontXylophone]

I can't fly myself, so this is brilliant news!! 

[MrZkr123]

im so jealous of all of you in Europe, here in America we don't got shit. Even though i c the american acela, daily, its nothing compared to what you guys have.

[Quasi84]

What kind of signal system is in use in the channel tunnel? How are the ICE equipped to be able to handle to go all the way from London to Amsterdam and Frankfurt?

[strafrag1]

It seems as if deregulation in rail has now joined in with the airlines. That's good for competition and lower prices, hopefully?

[Quasi84]

@strafrag1 You don't need to check in long before departure when you travel by train. Think about the time it takes to go from city center to city center using airlines. You also need to think about the number of stops the train does. Planes do not stop in mid flight to let people get on and off. I would rather travel by train than by airplane.

[strafrag1]

@Quasi84 Hi, I agree and I am a retired airline employee too!

[northwestrailfan1]

great video mate thats a like

[MrCC444]

Hi,

I'm from Germany and want know what the people from the UK would say about a direct train connection from London St. Pancras to Frankfurt (M) Central Station by the German InterCityExpress (ICE).

Oh by the way I go very often by ICE (and other Deutsche Bahn trains) and I can tell you that you will have exellent service and good connections for a not expansive prize.

On 0.54 you see the 2. Class of an ICE.

[TheWadge]

@MrCC444 I'm excited about this. Me and a few friends live in Kent and travel to Europe quite often for weekend breaks, hoping to watch a football game too! Train travel is so much better than planes, I've flown over 50 times and it's the worst form of transport. It's unthinkable that I can go from my house to the centre of Lille in under 2 hours, the time you sit in the airport for. We've been looking at going to Germany and especially Frankfurt for a while now too.

[MrCC444]

Ist doch irgendwie lustig, wir werden bald in 5 stunden komfortabel zwischen London-Brüssel-Köln-Frankfurt reisen oder ohne Umzusteigen über irgendne Magistrale von Paris über Stuttgart nach Prag oder Wien. Aber wenn man ins benachbarte Städtchen will, wird es kompliziert.

Ne tolle Sache wäre es natürlich, aber man sollte bei der Deutschen Bahn auch mal was für den Nahverkehr tun.

[sgetim1]

Oh dann könnt ich endlich nach london..fliegen hab ich angst vor ^^ und fahren is zulang

[Trainmaster189]

I wonder if China would be able to connect its HSR to the European network?

[StephenETavington]

@Trainmaster189 It's under planning. Proposed routes: SW China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Europe. OR via Kazakhstan and Russia.

[ryuusanosuke]

@Trainmaster189

wow, that would be a very long high speed train route. the trains would have to travel at 1000 km/h + to be competetive to the airplane. maybe a a transrapid-like train. it would be awesome though :)

[PSNPete1991]

@ryuusanosuke They won't have a chance to match them at speed, planes fly as the crow flies at 500mph+, trains will never manage this in our liftime, where they will win though, is ticket prices

[passingbynight]

It's not only taking passengers from airlines, it's saving the airlines: when the airlines are so full and planes fly so densely over Europe, it's in nobody's best interest. Rail complements airlines and roads.

[truekiwijoker]

Now with St. Pancras in operation it was only a matter of time IMO. This is fantastic news and services can't come soon enough, I'm certain they'll be successful. And I don't think it will undercut Eurostar much if at all. Okay they will cut into some of the customer base for the Brussels services but most of the services are to Paris and the demand is begger than the supply anyway and it will give more UK travelers exposure to HSR.

[cattleman6420012000]

Eurostar is wonderful. It will be wonderful to also have the ICE train. Yes the Spanish and the Italians also run the very fast trains. there are other ones in Europe also. Of course the Japanese trains atre fabulous and now the Chinese are doing amazingly well. The Germans actually developed the Maglev first in the 1930s. Then they had the Transrapid which differs from the Japanese one a little.

[robertparmar37]

why not let eurostar do the run to germany than ice3

[truekiwijoker]

I don't think there was much stopping them and the German authorities probably would've allowed them to, but remember Eurostar didn't start running a profit until something like 2005 and I think the old Waterloo Terminus was at capacity with the existing services.

[MrCC444]

@robertparmar37

Maybe ICE and Eurostar should have different Connections to London. ICE from Frankfurt via Cologne and Brussels or from Hamburg or Berlin via Amsterdam and Brussels to London and Eurostar from Paris or Brussels to London. And with the train connection Frankfurt/Cologne - Paris (ICE and TGV/Thalys) there would be a great connection between London, Paris and Frankfurt. That would be a benefit for both sides Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn and of course for all the passengers.

[TheLukei]

eurostar need to seriously up their game to stand any chance agenst this beast!

[truekiwijoker]

@TheLukei I traveled on both of them and honestly there's not much difference between the the two except the Eurostar livery and decor's a bit more dated that's all.

[dollydomo]

i think japanese bullet trains much better ice and eurostar.because japanese bullet train maglev can speed 581km/h in the world fastest train.

[truekiwijoker]

@dollydomo The Maglev's are only test beds and run no passenger services in Japan. The HSR in Japan runs standard gauge the same as Europe. Shinkansen service speeds are about the same and really there's not much difference between the three services.

[lamartjuh]

ice is much better then Eurostar!

[fatben5]

Why UK high speed rail so backwards compare with France, Spain, Germany, Japan, Russia and China?

[pontiacgpuk]

Great to see an ICE in London. Now we can get a real Euro-network going!! TGV next? Spanish AVE? Can't wait!

[kinofreakmaniak]

@pontiacgpuk Yeeeah the Nazi come, soon ! england again under Nazi technology

[amstaff198611]

@kinofreakmaniak stop talkin shit fag!

[ejcmoorhouse]

@pontiacgpuk no TGV SNCF part own eurostar!!?!

[samados969]

@pontiacgpuk

Eurostar is a modified TGV, suited to English norms ;D

[Indipuk]

Hitlers dream comes true.

[BahnySteig]

I travel two or three times a year between London - Brussels - Cologne and occasionally even To Frankfurt. It would be so much better to be able to do it without having to change in Brussels.

Roll on the day!

[livevillage22]

hello england, there we are again

[optionsupdate]

The war never ending for the third reich

[englischlokfuehrer]

I was there myself to film it instead of highjacking a news broadcast !

[megatwingo]

Thanks for uploading. Thumbs up!  :)

[kinofreakmaniak]

The third Reich is building up!

[NThusiast]

@kinofreakmaniak

Headline in German tabloid BILD today: "Deutsche Bahn conquers England"

[kinofreakmaniak]

@NThusiast

Hitler is the new Nostradamus

[Jeansschwimmer]

@NThusiast Nope- Siemens did.

Strangely enough German Rail used steamlocos - on some lines- as late as 1971 for passenger service when the British ones had longed been scrapped, but electrification and high speed services had long been established before. Then the BR Intercity 125 was much ahead of DB - I just remember it running between Newcastle and Manchester and Manchester and London, took it quite a lot- and now it looks that the next round has gone to DB

[cattleman6420012000]

@kinofreakmaniak Don't be a fool !!  Have a life !!!

[Desiro360]

Awesome sight. It would be fantastic if the ICE Train gets the go ahead to operate direct services from London to Amsterdam/Germany so more people would have the option to travel by train instead of flying. :)

[cattleman6420012000]

Wonderful to see this.