High Speed Line

[spamcan]

Hi Trainplanner

Thanks for the welcome. Yes, we were able to mooch around inside the trains and sit in the cab. We were asked not to take photos inside as Southeastern is responsible for the internal decor, not Hitachi, and the trains were still in the test run phase so the interiors were not yet tidied up for presentation to the public. My impression of the seating and decor arrangements is that they are going to be somewhat austere with the emphasis on getting people from A to B fast but not in the lap of luxury.

The local Dover councillor who played a major role in getting Dover included on the High Speed Train service has said that he is pushing for the time to be brought down to the hour from the current 64 minutes and has suggested that Folkestone Central be omitted and the proposed two stops in Folkestone limited to just Folkestone West.

[stumpyuk]

I was under the impression Dover was to be 74 minutes from St. P. I too think this should be reduced to 1 hour and this is not impossible. Under the current plans it will take longer to travel from Dover to Ashford than it does from Ashford to London and that is unacceptable. Also add in the 10 minutes attatch/detach fiasco that we will be expected to put up with at Ashford, which i again think is not acceptable. As it would seem from other messages, Medway and North Kent dont want their slots on the HS link, and therefore I think these should be put back to their original purpose of a high speed service to the kent coast, making 4 tph instead of 2 with the link/unlink pain in the a@@@.
But then this would mean getting in the way of the euro-meddlers express - we are merely meant to be the cash cows to keep the price of eurostar access acceptable. Brings on the final point - 30% extra wont fly!!

[O.V.S.Bulleid]

Hi Stumpy

Yes 64 minutes is the latest estimate for the fastest time - and should be possible if Ashford can be reached in 37 minutes.

Mind you 75 minutes to Cannon Street might be a more acceptable time at the reported prices - and I'm not sure that 80 minutes via the classic route at current prices wouldn't actually be preferred. This of course wouldn't happen for reasons given and the ability to raise another stealth tax on Kent.

On the north Kent side the ChavLine trains will actually be slower to North London than trains to Cannon Street were 50 years ago and it seems as though a 30 minute interval service will remain - stopping at additional stations and taking longer.

I'm not sure that we have heard the end of this one. Wait until the new service is finally announced.

Yours sincerely
O.V.S.Bulleid