Eurostar in Critical Condition

[Zetetic]

Yes, it's nothing to do with the English franchising system - they wouldn't put in a public operator to replace it by default.

Worth noting that SNCF still owns 55% of it. (Belgium owns another 5%. We sold all of our stake in 2015.)

[Gurke and Hare]

Yes, it's nothing to do with the English franchising system - they wouldn't put in a public operator to replace it by default.

Who grants operating licences for it? Some kind of partnership between ORR and the French version of ORR?

[Zetetic]

Apparently!

https://www.orr.gov.uk/monitoring-regulation/rail/networks/channel-tunnel

(Plus obtaining track access beyond either end, I guess.)

the French version of ORR?

Autorité de Régulation des Activités Ferroviaires (ARAFER), I have now learnt.

For some reason it always slightly irritates me when I learn that some people call railways "iron roads" or similar.

[Jasha]

For some reason it always slightly irritates me when I learn that some people call railways "iron roads" or similar.

Lots of Ferros on the continent

[Blumf]

Ambassador, with these Ferroviaires, you are really spoiling us.

[Jittlebags]

I wouldn't trust a country calling these mostrosities bonbons (despite them owning the words):



Proper bonbons are toffee spheres covered in icing sugar (optionally flavoured) that remove your fillings as you eat them.

[buzby]

I suppose maybe we'll finally end up with Deutsche Bahn running both freight and passenger services through the tunnel...

DB ran ICE3s on systems compatibility trials through the tunnel and HS1 to St. Pancras between 2010 and 2013 and got an operating certificate to run services, though I recall there were issues with the carriage doors not having the same spacing as the emergency refuge doors in the tunnel (as the ICE carriages are longer than the Class 373s) and they had to use pairs of 8 car ICE3s to satisfy the regulation that sets could split in the middle in an emergency. At that time they said they hoped to start services by 2020, but in 2018 (i.e. after the Brexit vote) they announced changes to the economic environment had made this unlikely and they would not be on the agenda for the forseeable future.

The original Class 373 sets were built to British loading gauge as they had to run on existing tracks pre-HS1) and were cleared for some UK routes (two sets were leased to GNER to run on the ECML between 2000 and 2005). The original purchase was 34 sets, 16 by SNCF, 18 by BR (including the 8 'North of London' regional Eurostar sets that were never used and subsequently leased to SNCF for use on TGV routes). The BR sets were subsequently sold to London & Continental Railways on privatisation and leased to by Eurostar. In 2004 22 of the sets were still in use on Eurostar routes (most of the rest were being used on internal TGV routes by SNCF). LCR went bust in 2007 and was nationalised by the DfT.

The ownership of the ex-BR Class 373s was transferred to Eurostar International Ltd,  the parent company of Eurostar which was joint-owned by SNCF (55%), LCR (40%) and SNCB (5%), when LCR went bust in 2007 and was nationalised by the DfT. The DfT's stake in EIL was sold to a consortium of the Quebec National Investement Fund and the Hermes private investment fund in 2015 for £757m. EIL leases the rolling stock to it's subsidiary that actually runs the services.

In 2016 the new Class 374s came into use (based on the Siemens ICE3) and the Class 373s started to be withdrawn and scrapped or canniblaised for spares (there are currently still 11 sets still in use). The Class 374s are built to Continental loading gauge as they were only meant to run on HS1 in the so they are of no use to other UK operators.

[Sebastian Cobb]

The latest Well There's Your Problem podcast is about the Eurostar fire but has some interesting stuff about the inception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBEEUPjqu-s

For starters Thatcher wanted it to be a road at first (I think Buzby mentioned this when Boris' road bridge to Northern Ireland was being discussed). And was also at one point trying to do a deal where France would do their half but our half was implemented by a private operator.

Also that there were plans to have 'Eurostar Regional' trains that could pick people up from cities other than London.

[BritishHobo]

The last time I got the Eurostar, I sat there while a man taking his daughter to Disneyland Paris inexplicably played a Facebook video clip from a film about bank robbers, on repeat, for a full hour. A poorly-spliced thirty-second clip starting with a bank robber shouting 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW', followed by the vague noises of scuffling, and then someone letting loose with a fuckload of bullets. Clip ends. Play again. 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW!' A baffling chuckle from the man. Scuffle. Gunfire. Play again. Is it from a shit gangster movie? Or is it something good, like the start of The Dark Knight. I can't remember if they shout 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW!' in The Dark Knight, but they are on the Eurostar. Scuffle. Gunfire. 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW!' Maybe this isn't from a film. Maybe it's footage from a genuine bank robbery, and we're all hearing the sounds of real people actually dying as we pass through Lille. 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW!' After a while he stops watching it. Must have wrung every last drop of pure enjoyment out of the multi-layered clip, and now he's moved on. His daughter chatters excitedly to the back of his head about meeting Olaf, or Basil the Great Mouse Detective or whoever, while he ignores her and stares out the window at the French countryside. We all relax. Then, just when our guards are down: 'EVERYONE DOWN ON THE FUCKING GROUND NOW!'

A bit later, his daughter asks to have her tablet so she can watch YouTube, and he scoffs that she's glued to her screens and needs a break. Fuck the Eurostsar. I'll brick the cunt up myself.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

You would be amazed the effect alerting a member of the crew to yours and others discomfort and inconvenience has.

Every time I've done this the staff have absolutely smashed the cunts, no sex organs left, just vital bodily functions.