I was very excited to find out that a trip to the Kent coast coincided with the launch of test runs of the new service linking St Pancras with the Kent coast. The High Speed One line was built to carry Eurostar in super fast times to Paris but, unlike on the French side, you were not allowed to board in London and get off in the same country which meant the only option was the super slow local service. The new line is something to be truely excited about as it's the first line to be built in the UK in... well ages. All investment usually goes into boring safety upgrades so it's nice to see something like this going ahead to finally bring Britain into the 21st century. I won't go on about this but France, Spain, Japan and China have been investing in super high speed trains for ages and their benefits are clear. Anyway here's the link to high speed one:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Speed_1
Anyway - about the journey - i filmed the whole 37 mins from London to Ashford but I won't put that here..
Quick first impressions:
- it's going to cost a bit more, but not loads - I paid a 4.40 surcharge on the 29 quid journey.
- The new platforms are lovely at St Pancras.
- You can feel the G-forces when accelerating and the leaning when turning in these Japanese trains (Hitachi).
- 20% of the journey is in tunnels as you exit London and as you go under the Thames near Dartford.
- We did make it to the olympic site in 9 mins as promised by the government
- The interior of the train feels cheap and rattles a bit.
- A can of beer makes the journey very enjoyable.
- High speed trains are the future of UK travel
Anyway thanks for humouring me - I'm not actually a train spotter...
This is what I really want though: roll on ultra speed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Ultraspeed
