rail
- Average speed of a British InterCity train: slow.
- UK rail speed record: 162.2 mph (set in 1979 by the Advanced Passenger Train, the notorious tilting rival to the French TGV that never went into service).
- Eurostar UK record, to be attempted later this morning: 205 mph.
- French rail speed record: 321.8 mph (set by the TGV Atlantique in 1990)
The Eurostar takes now about three hours to travel from London Waterloo to Paris Gare du Nord, but if all goes well it will connect these two cities in two hours and 35 minutes this coming autumn, and eventually going from London St Pancras to Paris will take only two hours and 15 minutes by 2007.
We are being dragged into Europe, kicking and screaming. I am not complaining - well, at least next time I come back from Paris I won't feel like getting off and pushing the train once it emerges from the tunnel. update: new record has been set at 208 mph.
Wednesday 30 July 2003 at 9:39 am
I'll take your word on this, the only time I've been on Eurostar they double booked our seats and we had to sit in the area between carriages the whole way (commonly known as the toilets…) Grrrrr