High Speed 1 makes Paris and Brussels commutable
before 9am, ready for a full day’s work. Eurostar will increase the number of
weekday services on the London-Paris route from 15 to 17 by February 2008. There
will be 10 weekday services on the London-Brussels route, with the number of trains
raised from seven to eight a day at weekends. The final evening departures will
leave London around 20 minutes later than today. Journey times between London
and the Continent will be cut by at least 20 minutes, with non-stop times of London-Paris
in 2h15m, London-Brussels in 1h51m and London-Lille in 1h20m. International travellers
will be able to connect with seven mainline train operators at St Pancras, King’s
Cross and nearby Euston, and with six London Underground lines.
Nearly half of all Eurostar services will call at Ebbsfleet International, Eurostar’s
new station just off junction 2 of the M25 near the Dartford crossing and Bluewater
shopping centre in north Kent. The new station is expected to attract both current
users of Waterloo International and passengers who currently fly from London airports.
With two stations in Kent, the number of trains serving the county will increase
by 33% – from 12 to 16 a day. Ashford will continue to have services to Paris,
Lille, Disneyland Paris, Avignon and the French Alps – although direct services
to Brussels will be axed in the new timetable. (18.7.2007 Transport Briefing)