Velaro UK construction progress (New Eurostar rolling stock)

[MCR247]

373s have clearly become the new 442s

 

[BananaRepublic]

There's a major mid life overhaul going on anyway.....

The mid life overhaul is taking so long, the trains will be scrapped before the final bit of carpet is laid.

The mid life overhaul and refurbishment project stalled when, IIRC, the major contractor went into administration.
The first updated sets should have already been in service this year and the programme over half way through by now.
There's been no news for over 6 months, except for a few photos of a re-painted power car.


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I'm struggling to work out what "Reconfigure Class 373 half sets with a new (presumably aerodynamic) driving trailer" actually is the answer to?

Indeed. There is no requirement for them.

Could they be used on the ECML with some of the traction motors isolated and maybe just one pan used?

There is no need for them. It may have escaped your notice that there's a large order in place for new trains on the ECML.

 

[southern442]

373s have clearly become the new 442s

I actually wouldn't be surprised if the 373's met their Coca-Cola factory before the 442's

 

[Olaf]

I heard that some of the carriages have been sold to ESA for expansion of the ISS.

 

[33Hz]

On the one hand you have Eurostar stating they want to open new destinations and procuring new stock and on the other hand these non-life expired rolling stock will be / have been scrapped. These may be just another TGV to the French but as the only UK compatible 300 km/h train in existence they have inherent value to us.

If Eurostar think people will sit on the train for 4 hours to Amsterdam, 5 hours to Frankfurt or 6 hours to Marseille, then I'm damn sure there's a market going north as well.

Now that DB has shown the absurdity of the tunnel 400m rules then if I was Eurostar I'd look at making some short sets and run a Birmingham-Paris/Brussels and Leeds-Paris/Brussels service splitting at Lille.

 

[andrewkeith5]

On the one hand you have Eurostar stating they want to open new destinations and procuring new stock and on the other hand these non-life expired rolling stock will be / have been scrapped. These may be just another TGV to the French but as the only UK compatible 300 km/h train in existence they have inherent value to us.

If Eurostar think people will sit on the train for 4 hours to Amsterdam, 5 hours to Frankfurt or 6 hours to Marseille, then I'm damn sure there's a market going north as well.

Now that DB has shown the absurdity of the tunnel 400m rules then if I was Eurostar I'd look at making some short sets and run a Birmingham-Paris/Brussels and Leeds-Paris/Brussels service splitting at Lille.

Two things come to mind initially:

Not really sure how passport control is going to work anywhere that isn't St Pancras? Certainly at Birmingham, new street might be tripling in size but that will be almost immediately at capacity and there certainly won't be space to isolate a whole area of the station and platform for international services.

Unless the TGVs have had a much better internal refresh than the Eurostar sets, I'll continue to prefer Mk4 sets, then Pendolinos, then HSTs. Eurostars are comfortable and quiet, yes, but at least in standard class the interiors are in utterly desperate need of overhaul. The last time I managed to get a table seat I also felt pretty claustrophobic when three others turned up, with the relatively tightly fitted seating and the enclosing headrests.

 

[Olaf]

Two things come to mind initially:

Not really sure how passport control is going to work anywhere that isn't St Pancras? Certainly at Birmingham, new street might be tripling in size but that will be almost immediately at capacity and there certainly won't be space to isolate a whole area of the station and platform for international services.

I expect that international services running north of London will be only offered on HS2. IIRC one of the specification documents for HS2 states that the new stations will be sized such to be able to accommodate such requirements at a future date if required.

 

[user15681]

6K74 with 4011/12 arrived at St Pancras in the early hours of this morning. The set is on platform 5 until Saturday morning for the press unveiling of the E320 and celebration of 20 years at Eurostar.

 

[jopsuk]

did arrive under it's own power or pushed in by a diesel shunter?

 

[Snapper]

I've added a selection of internal pix of the new Eurostar e320 to this gallery: http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p622123184

 

[theageofthetra]

Check out @seatsixtyone's Tweet: https://twitter.com/seatsixtyone/status/532849696369565697?s=09

 

[ComUtoR]

200MPH

 

[dcd]

How long will it be there ?

 

[Chris125]

They are to buy 7 more e320s, bringing that fleet up to 17, while retaining and upgrading 14 373s.

Chris

 

[Alfie1014]

I see Eurostar have also announced today a follow on order of another 7 sets, sorry can't add link from phone.

 

[starrymarkb]

The tables in standard look a bit small, do they extend?

 

[Julian G]

Until Saturday morning.

 

[jopsuk]

So, from the article:
31 full length "3 Capitals" Class 373/TMST/Eurostar 300 originally built (62 half-sets)

24 in current Eurostar fleet- presumably this is "in service"?

3 out of service at SNCF (to be scrapped)

Presumably the remaining 4 are still with Eurostar but are for spares or the pilot refurbishment?

Future fleet:

14 E300
17 E320

So in the end only a slight increase in the number of units

 

[jamesontheroad]

Eurostar have also announced that they'll be ordering seven additional E320s, bringing their eventual fleet to seventeen.

From the Railway Gazette (which has pics)...

...On display in Platform 5 was one of the first 10 trains; nine have been completed so far and are in various stages of testing in France, Belgium, the UK and Germany. Andrew Slater, Eurostar’s International Rolling Stock Director, said that a test train had reached 230 km/h ‘last night’ on HS1 and that the test team hoped to attain 300 km/h ‘tonight’.

Eurostar expects to have five e320 sets available by December 2015, three of which will be used in commercial service on the London – Brussels and London – Paris routes. All 10 sets will be available by May 2016, said Slater, who predicted that the seven additional trains would be delivered in the second half of that year.

The planned London – Amsterdam service with stops at Antwerpen, Rotterdam and Schiphol Airport is now expected to start in 2016-17, according to Chief Executive Nicolas Petrovic. An announcement on whether London-bound passengers on these services will have to detrain at Lille for British passport and security checks is expected in January. This will be the case for the inbound services between London, Lyon and Marseille that Eurostar plans to launch on May 1 next year.

Given that the UKIPs are chasing the Tories ever further towards the hard right, especially on border control and immigration, I'd be very surprised if a solution is announced in January that doesn't involve complete detraining at Lille.

(Although, frankly, if UKIP continue to gain support, I'd be surprised if they don't fill the Channel Tunnel with concrete at the first opportunity...)

Good news, however, and the trains look smart both inside and out.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Until Saturday morning.

Accessible to the public to look round inside?

Neil

 

[swt_passenger]

Future fleet:

10 E300
17 E320

So in the end only a slight increase in the number of units

The article linked above says they are refurbishing 'about 14' E300s doesn't it? Nonetheless I'd always got the impression that the first 10 E320s were all for strengthening/extensions - and that seems to have been completely wrong...

 

[Dye]

The tables in standard look a bit small, do they extend?

In photo 3 of 91 the dark top table, in the background, is extended.

 

[jopsuk]

The article linked above says they are refurbishing 'about 14' E300s doesn't it? Nonetheless I'd always got the impression that the first 10 E320s were all for strengthening/extensions - and that seems to have been completely wrong...

oops, got it wrong... edited now!

 

[Bantamzen]

In photo 3 of 91 the dark top table, in the background, is extended.

I was going to say, don't they pull outwards? And as you say, you can see it at the top right of that picture, now 15 of 110.

 

[LM 170]

The new E320s units do look really nice from the outside and the inside but I was a little disappointed by the 1st Class seating cream and dark grey fabric seats a bit standard if you ask me. I thought it would be a bit more radical like the outside of the E320 units I was envisioning 1st Class with bright yellow and navy blue leather seats like the seats found on the DB ICE 3 1st Class.

I do prefer leather over fabric but that's my own opinion though.

 

[po8crg]

Eurostar have ordered another 7 E320s, extending the order to 17

Marking the 20th anniversary of the launch of passenger services through the Channel Tunnel with a celebration at London St Pancras on November 13, Eurostar announced that it had signed Heads of Agreement with Siemens for seven more e320 trainsets.

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Missed this thread earlier when creating a new one. Sorry.
E320 order extended to 17 units (from 10) and a progress report.

Nine E320s have been completed and are in testing; a test train reached 230km/h on HS1 "last night" (presumably 12-13 November) and was hoped to reach 300km/h "tonight" (13-14 Nov).

More various information in the article, including update on the Amsterdam service and on the 373 refurbishment.

 

[Noddy]

Are any high speed lines being upgraded to 320kph? Which lines will they be able to run full speed on?

 

[33Hz]

Are any high speed lines being upgraded to 320kph? Which lines will they be able to run full speed on?

They can run at 320 km/h on LGV Est (to Strasbourg/Germany) and south of Lyon towards Marseille. When the new line to Bordeaux opens they can run at 320 there too. If enough trains on LGV Nord are 320 km/h capable, no doubt they will make a case to allow it there too.


So hang on - from the new above they are keeping 14 e300s? So they propose to scrap 17 ?!?


Check out a virtual tour of the train here: http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/whats...gn=560_EFT_new_fleet_UKUK_CB (1)&utm_content=

 

[BananaRepublic]

So hang on - from the new above they are keeping 14 e300s? So they propose to scrap 17 ?!?

Eurostar only had 28 full length (class 373/e300) sets.
The other 3 have been in domestic service in France with SNCF for years and no longer part of the Eurostar fleet.
Those 3 SNCF sets have already been recently retired and are waiting to be scrapped.

One of Eurostar's 28 sets has been donated for development work, as part of the refurbishment programme and was taken out of service a few years ago, leaving 27 sets.

Today they're saying that the fleet is only 24 sets strong. If that's correct and not a mistake, then 3 other sets have already been laid up.

If the fleet is to be further reduced to 14, that's less than half of the original fleet.

The 7 SNCF operated shorty NoL sets are also due to be retired soon, if what I've read elsewhere is correct.

 

[WatcherZero]

Also one for one replacement is still a 20% increase in seating capacity.