New trains barred by Shakespeare

摘要

The opening of Phase One of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link has cut more than 20 minutes off the Eurostar journey time to Paris and Brussels. It is reported to have improved reliability significantly, something that augurs well for the service when Phase 2 opens in 2007. Of course, this is only hearsay, since the Government refuses to require Eurostar or Heathrow Express to publish performance figures. However, people living in East Kent must be looking forward to getting to London half an hour quicker when new 'domestic' trains use the CTRL from Ashford or Ebbsfleet to St Pancras. Many readers will recall that one of the justifications put to the parliamentary select committees was that, in return for a high-speed line carving up Kent, people in the eastern part would get the benefit of new, faster services to London.