Travelers didn't want to miss the event for anything, to the point of booking their tickets months in advance. After all, this train journey was indeed historic. For the first time, commercial trains will transport passengers between Paris and London, and vice versaand thus cross the Channel using the tunnel whose construction was completed in 1993 after six years of work.
Then the tests were incessant. Until this great day of Monday November 14, 1994. There is joy on the platforms which will see the first Eurostar trains leave.
Departing from Paris, there are real train lovers like this Japanese who came specially from Tokyo. Not very eco-friendly to fly so much for a much shorter train trip. But when we love. At the time, we didn't look too much at carbon footprints.
On the platforms, we even kiss the train hostesses, very elegant in their outfits in navy blue and yellow, the colors of Eurostar, designed by the great fashion designer Pierre Balmain. Class!
The tunnel? “It felt like we were in the metro”
These first trips went well with a cruising speed of 300 km/h. A little thrill when the train rushes into the tunnel? No doubt, but as a traveler says in West Francethe day after, “It felt like we were in the metro.” In just over three hours, the journey between the two capitals is completed. Over the years, travel time will decrease. At the start, Eurostars still have to slow down on lines around London which are saturated by heavy traffic.
For this first, the trains arrived on time, and sometimes even a little early. “Passed the Eurostar exam”, title so West France on its front page.
This train that runs under the sea is not just a means of transport. It is also, we think, a geopolitical tool which will perhaps allow England to feel a little more European. With this railway line, it is a little less of an island.
But ultimately it was just a figment of the imagination. These direct trains between the continent and London have not made the endless financial negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union any simpler. And then, many years later, in 2020, there will be Brexit.
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