EUROSTAR STANDARD PREMIER - PARIS to LONDON In 2 HOURS UNDER THE SEA At 300kmh!

for almost 30 years the Eurostar has been connecting people from the heart of London to Major European cities and Mainland Europe at speeds of 300 kilometers per hour via the underwater Channel tunnel most Services Now operate using a new Fleet of E320 Valero trains which admittedly I haven't yet tried out so in this video I'll be checking out eurostar's standard Premiere offering taking a ride from Paris the French Capital back home to London the English Capital following a relaxing week off in Mainland Euro now let's get this show on the rails foreign We Begin today's Journey at the world famous Paris Gardiner station officially known as Pari no right in the heart of Paris France within the 10th and on the small perhaps the most notable thing you see upon arriving is the Angel bear sculpture designed by Richard texture in 2015 as a reminder to the 200 million plus passengers passing through the station each year of the continued impacts of climate change on polar bears I must admit I really do love this station everything from the grand roof design to the overarching pillars are just fantastic the station having opened originally in 1846 is the busiest railway station in Europe handling Circa 214 million passengers a year and is served by a multitude of operators ranging from tgv high speed trains to sncf Regional and Suburban Services Under the transcilian and ter brands is principally known for its International links to not only the UK but also other countries in Mainland Europe through Tallis who serve Belgium Germany and the Netherlands from this station the Eurostar platforms are located right next to the Talis platforms which is rather fitting considering both operators recently finalized a merger deal back in March 2022 the station also has a large array of shops and eateries some more Prestige than local to France whilst others such as the Five Guys in the background not so much right it's now time for us to head to the Eurostar platforms which are located towards the east of the main station Concourse Eurostar recommends to arrive around an hour and a half ahead of departure to prevent issues during the boarding process which I'll be going through shortly gates close around half an hour prior to the book departure of the train so make sure not to arrive too late if you do find yourself being slightly delayed however the Eurostar entrance is conveniently located right next to one of the entrances for the Paris Metro and rer before we begin boarding let's briefly take in the Grand View of Paddy Nord before undertaking the traditional British activity of queuing Eurostar cues are infamously known for being rather long and frequent and this will be the first of many will experience during the boarding process the boarding process begins with scanning your ticket on the barcode reader to enter the barriers tickets can either be printed offered as paper tickets or the option I used as an e-ticket we then have a passport check done both by the French and British authorities I mean to the UK not being part of the European Schengen area and finally following a brief and quick Security check we have now arrived in the Eurostar departure Lounge from the lounge we have an amazing view of Garduno including both members of eurostar's Fleet the last time I traveled with Eurostar was eight years ago on the train to the left a class 373 tgv tmst or E300 dated from 1994. today I'll be traveling on one of the newer E320 trains built by Siemens as part of their Valero family between 2011 and 2018. unlike the e300s which have 18 carriages the e320s have 16 carriages and I'm based in coach 15 for this trip one of the three standard Premier carriages consequently I'll be remaining here in Lounge a which is for coaches 11 to 18 regardless of the set coaches one to ten have to board from Lounge B there's plenty to do here including making one last purchase at the duty-free shops ahead of the trip and if you're in business Premiere or part of eurostar's Corp launch membership have access to the business Premiere Lounge like me however most of you will most likely not be spending that much money so just get yourself a tasty snack from the cafes and duty-free shops from the money you saved instead I also managed to get a great seat to admire the view over Garden North my brief break was cut short however as before I could take a bite out of the delicious Ferrero Roche bar it was time to board as can be seen boarding is rather chaotic although this isn't aided by the fact that I'm traveling at the Christmas period fortunately the crowds moved on rather fast as we board our trade now's a good time to talk more about the E320 designated as the class 374 in the UK the trains were ordered by Eurostar to enhance its Fleet and expand its operations and we to the improved flexibility provided which the existing tmst failed to offer the E320 introduction has enabled Eurostar to begin operating direct trains in 2018 from London to Amsterdam via Rotterdam and hopefully following the merger with Talus will enable further destinations to be served in the coming years I must admit I am a fan of the new year of star Livery as it really does fit in with both their corporate image and role in connecting the UK with Mainland Europe however you really can't beat the classics the last hurdle before boarding is to show one of the onboard train managers my ticket so I can be allocated by seat reservations are compulsory on Eurostar and any seats must be booked prior to departure seats can also be changed either on the Eurostar website or at the reception office for undergoing security at your request provided the train isn't too busy and after wrestling through the army of passengers I finally made it to my seat number 65 weirdly enough directly opposite seat 61 but before we depart for London let's have a look at our route for today starting from Pali Nord upon departure we ride through the northern Paris suburbs an ill de France region before making our way up the LGV North the High Speed Line running up to Neil and Calais to the site of the channel tunnel we then make our way across the tunnel under the English Channel over to Kent where we join the high-speed one line to make our way into our final destination into London some Pancras international our scheduled arrival time into London is 1 30 PM UK time right about time we finally left France and made our way to the UK so let's get rolling foreign foreign Mississippi foreign having traveled up to Paris on one of the older tmst sets I was rather disappointed to find the seats on the e320s are a lot less comfortable however they still do the job nicely my seat has a standard UK 3-pin power socket as well as a USB socket these do vary by seat however a seat 61 opposite me for example had a continental European one so great to see Eurostar including both I found the leg room on the E320 to be whilst not as great as a tmst still fairly adequate especially for the premium offering this was aided further by the generous seat recline to operate this just pull and hold the lever and slide your bum forwards and backwards as appropriate I'm at a table seat meaning there's a foldable section that can be extended or put away as appropriate this came in handy for my meal offered in standard Premiere with more on that later at the end of each seat is a foldable armrest this also includes the window side which normally doesn't operate however given the plug socket is under here I feel like it's necessary in this case a very conveniently located reading light can be seen towards the left facing the direction of travel seat numbers are also located at each seat and are accompanied by a dot matrix display however this did not appear to be working for this trip located just below the seat reservation display and number are sturdy coat hangers for the placement of coats and bags and finally there's a window blind available interestingly it doesn't completely block out the view and instead simply reduces the sunlight which I find a lot better as this means the views over the LGV Nord can still be enjoyed the LGV Nord is one of the high speed lines in France which runs from Paris all the way to the channel tunnel portal on the French side at Calais the maximum speed on the line is 300 kilometers per hour however the e320s as suggested by the name are capable of doing 320 kilometers per hour as per the limit of many other European high-speed lines right time for a wander around our train I'm currently in the second standard premium Carriage of the three on board immediately exiting my Carriage is a wheelchair accessible toilet which I'll have a look at later on as mentioned previously standard Premiere is on the rear three carriages of this 16 Carriage train 10 are standard class accommodation and the remaining three are for those on a business Premiere ticket however there is no difference in the seats the differences being a fully flexible ticket a larger meal access to the business Premiere lounge and priority boarding heading into standard class we can see that seating isn't a two plus two configuration with tables which appears to be incredibly busy so just as well I upgraded the standard premiere for this trip there's also plenty of luggage racks both overhead and towards the end of the carriage which appear to be very well used in carriages where there weren't wheelchair accessible toilets there was a standard toilet in at least every Carriage so it's good to see Eurostar using the space on this 16 Carriage train wisely we're now in Carriage eight which is where I'm going to end the walk through as we've reached the next stop to check out in more detail Cafe Metropol this is eurostar's onboard dining car with a reasonable selection of light Refreshments available including cake and both soft and alcoholic drinks the ambience as with the rest of the train is great however I did find the menu to be a bit pricey for my liking I've put the menu up here so feel free to pause the video and make a judgment for yourself I also remembered that I'm in standard premiere for this trip meaning I returned to a complimentary light meal which is included in the ticket price the meal was nice although the pineapple chunks didn't look very fresh at first glance we are currently about to speed through Europe a major Hub on the LGV Nord that was opened in 1993 to provide International links in northern France with Eurostar and Talus International Services Eurostar services to and from Paris however don't stop at the station with their services to Amsterdam and Brussels regularly making stops here instead as well as the infrequent service to Disneyland Paris which will be coming to this channel soon so do subscribe so you don't miss it services to and from how do you know what to lean are instead provided by tgv the final thing to check out on the E320 is the toilet as it's the closest one to my Carriage I've gone for the PRM specified toilet for this one door locked we can begin I'm honestly amazed with how clean this toilet is the tmst on my way up whilst it was clean was not as clean as this Kudos Eurostar the soap is well filled the tap flows very well and the dryer works as it should this means that overall the toilet gets a huge thumbs up from me right back to my seat now as the channel tunnel approaches is up an ultimate stop to pass on the approach to the channel tunnel this station was previously served by Eurostar however they have since seized a call here since the covid-19 pandemic owing to them focusing more on their core route stations and at the time of recording no resumption date had been announced all services are now served by ter Regional services and tgv high-speed services the passing of this station also indicates we are close to the channel tunnel this is also indicated by the a large amount of fencing an attempt to resolve the illegal immigration issues through the tunnel the channel tunnel is a superb piece of engineering with plans for its construction emerging as early as 1802 the eventual successful project led by eurotunnel began Construction in 1988 and opened in May 1994 with several class 319 electric trains making excursions through the tunnel from saddling Kent on the day of opening with invited guests to making it all the way to France as the first passenger carrying trains to do so we also now begin to slow down as we enter the tunnel which is reflected with its maximum speed of 100 miles an hour or 160 kilometers per hour and yes there is just about a signal in here the channel has two tunnels one in each Direction both of which are linked by a piston relief duct to manage air pressure changes caused by the fast train movement there is also a service tunnel between the two Tunnels for the provision of Maintenance and the evacuation of passengers in the event of an emergency the tunnel also runs 75 meters below sea level which is pretty amazing if you ask me each tunnel also has a length of 50.45 kilometers which is approximately 31 miles and takes 20 minutes to Traverse the full length but I'll let the E320 passenger information screens cover this little fact sadly the inside of the channel does not look like a scene from Finding Nemo and as it lasts for 20 minutes let's skip to the end of our journey through it and enjoy a frosty welcome back to the UK don't forget to adjust for the one hour timing difference emerging from the tunnel Caesars in folkestone Kent as well as Eurostar Services the channel is also served by the motor rail shuttle service the shuttle between Calais and folkeston with the tracks towards the folkestone terminal being seen towards the left minutes later we are seen speeding over Ashford International on one of the many high-speed one viaducts another former stop of the Eurostar that was withdrawn for the same reason as Calais again there is no expected date for The Return of Eurostar services at Ashford despite the work done in late 2019 to make the platform suitable for the e320s the hs1 between the tunnel and London is currently Britain's only High Speed Line built to cope with the higher speeds and E320 loading gauges used by Eurostar Southeastern also operate domestic high-speed services to Kent on the line which I've reviewed before the maximum speed on the line is 186 miles an hour which we experience traveling over the Medway Viaduct and River Medway and as we pass the Dartford Crossing I'll draw my conclusions overall I had a fantastic experience with the Eurostar the service was great and even though the ride on the e320s was not as great as a tmst they're fantastic trains and I'm sure you'll enjoy traveling on them as much as I have I also find this amazing how you can get from the center of Paris to London in just over two hours thanks to High-Speed Rail the channel and friendship between nations one last thing to note is that we passed Stratford International on the approach to London a high-speed one white elephant Errington no International Services ever having been called here well that's it from you guys and welcome to London building of fast training between Melbourne in about you know I'll show you the instructions and that's it guys the perfect end to a perfect trip have you ever traveled with Eurostar before what have your experiences with them please do let me know in the comments below I'd also like to say a massive thank you for the support this year it has been incredibly humbling to see the Channel's vast growth and I could not have done it without every view like and subscription on that note please give the video a like if you enjoyed it as that further AIDS the Channel's growth if you're new to the channel and want to see more content such as this why not consider subscribing as well as enabling notifications as I upload new videos every Friday at 5 PM right time for me to get a well-deserved rest now and I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year thanks so much for watching and I'll see you in 2023 foreign

Channel: Midland London

Views: 13,837

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Id: -Hhbey96ghE

Length: 19min 27sec (1167 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 30 2022