59CosG95
Established Member
You understand correctly. eurostar have been trying to keep them afloat, so as to get one redone 373 (to be known as an e300) out before the year's over.
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Velaro UK construction progress (New Eurostar rolling stock)
- Thread starter 59CosG95
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You understand correctly. eurostar have been trying to keep them afloat, so as to get one redone 373 (to be known as an e300) out before the year's over.
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RailUK Forums
Those designs remind me of the "The Fifth Element" (1997).
FlippyFF
Member
Is one of these out testing between STP and AFK today? I was out walking the dog and saw on RTT a service running between AFK and STP due to leave at 13:27 (9Z01), I waited a few minutes to try and get a picture but nothing appeared. Stupidly I didn't look at the STP > AFK service (9Z02), if I had done I would have seen it running late and could have got a picture of it coming from the other direction. 
Re-discovered this article which explains the presence of a unit in Belgium for an extended period:
http://www.therailengineer.com/2013/10/31/new-eurostar-under-test/
http://www.therailengineer.com/2013/10/31/new-eurostar-under-test/
Will provide a link later, but one is due to be unveiled on 13th November at St Pancras.
Update:
http://www.globalrailnews.com/2014/10/22/eurostar-e320-to-be-unveiled-next-month/
Update:
http://www.globalrailnews.com/2014/10/22/eurostar-e320-to-be-unveiled-next-month/
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gordonthemoron
Established Member
aren't ICEs to Interlaken ICE1s? Which are very old (20+ years). The new E*s are based on ICE3s
andrewkeith5
Member
Darnit
Why is it that these things always happen when I'm already booked to be somewhere completely different?!
starrymarkb
Established Member
Yes they are. There is a subfleet for Swiss work as they require a narrow pantograph to operate under Swiss knitting.
ICE3MS (BR406) sets also have Swiss pans, but mods to operate in France meant they lost their approval for Switzerland.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Things must be going well, as I saw on Twitter the Amsterdam services are to launch in 2016, rather looking forward to that. Will persuade me to go Eurostar vice Flybe when I need to go to the Netherlands!
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Darnit
There won't be any public access to the train, though. It'll be media, staff and invited guests only.
The poor 373s are in need of more than just a lick of paint. I observed large amounts of rust on them recently and plenty of dents to be beaten out too.
SpacePhoenix
Established Member
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How many years lifespan have the 373s realistically got before they'll be considered to be life expired and goto the scrapheap?
59CosG95
Established Member
Since the e300 refurb farce is their mid-life overhaul, the e300 sets'll probably be good for another 15-20 years. Mind you, not all the 373s are being tarted up, so the unrefurbished sets probably have another 10 years tops with the corrosion I've seen on them.
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Correct, but they still have a better ride quality than the current euroStar kit.
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I think they are up for retirement from the late 2020s. I also recall there being some comment in relation to the conversion of HS1 to ERTMS.
starrymarkb
Established Member
SNCF are scrapping their domestic sets and the NoL sets, though I suspect that might be beneficial to the main Eurostar operation in terms of spares.
SNCF has a surfeit of TGVs to the extent that a 'Ryanair' style operation has been set up for low cost journeys.
Manchester77
Established Member
I can see why eurostar might not want the NoL sets but surely having an additional 3 full length 373s would be beneficial to eurostar not just for spares but to allow for slacker diagraming and allowing the trains to spend more time in the depot as they get older?
MCR247
Established Member
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Surely eurostars diagramming is slack enough, the 373s hardly seem extensively used - they must spend half of their lives sat in St Pancras 
cjmillsnun
Established Member
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Yes they did. EPS sold them to SNCF.
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I would agree with this, once the refurbs were underway, then a few reserve sets could be useful.
starrymarkb
Established Member
My understanding is the Tunnel Approval on the SNCF Domestic Sets has lapsed and they would need to be recertified for the tunnel.
Would they not be cascaded onto HS2 or HS3?
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
By the time HS2 opens the 373s will be how old....?
Constructed 1992-1996 so 24 - 28 years.
The 319s being cascaded to Northern are about the same age. (Constructed 1987-1990)
59CosG95
Established Member
But being near the salt in the Eurotunnel has probably caused the 373s no end of problems...
Err HS2 Phase 1 is due to open in 2026 so they'll be between 30 and 34 years old hardly the sort of stock you want running your brand new high speed services!
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