Main Journal

High Speed 1

20 07 09 - 00:25

Introduction

Robert takes a ride on the Southeastern High Speec preview service from St Pancras to Ebbsfleet and back.

Journal Article

Eighteen months after High Speed 1 and St Pancras International opened to fare-paying passengers, a "preview service" has begun on part of the planned domestic route, using using new Hitatchi "Shinkansen-style" trains, has begun operation.

With a free day last week, and not much else to do, I decided to take a ride on this new service, to beat the crowds and get a sneak preview of what to expect when a full service enters operation in December this year.  The trains are certainly quite struking, particularly when waiting in the otherwise uncluttered eastern side of the St Pancras complex.  The off-peak services from there to Ebbsfleet are certainly not oversubscribed, with a very high staff-passenger ratio, however I'm given to understand the the morning and evening peak services - to, and from, Ashford international respectively - are regularly packed out.

The journey in either direction is pretty uneventful in terms of scenery - the vast majority of it being spent in a series of tunnels, either under East London or the Thames.  Being my first time on the part of High Speed 1 which used to be called CTRL 2 (ie: petween St Pancras and Ebbsfleet), Both the new station at Stratford International and the section close to theQEII bridge at Thurrock pass in a flash, and before one knows it Ebbsfleet arrives.

It'll be interesting to see the full service when December comes around, and training begin running from Folkestone, Ramsgate and the Medway towns.  In the meantime, for the fastest ride you'll get anywhere else on the British domestic rail system, I thoroughly recommend a trip to Ebbsfleet.  Off-Peak tickets costs about £12 return, and can - with a little explanation - be bought from the FCC ticket office at St Pancras (ask for an off-peak return to Ebbsfleet International via High Speed One).

Used tags: channel_tunnel_rail_link, ebbsfleet, high_speed_1, hitatchi, st_pancras, train