British Rail Class 373
The British Rail Class 373 train is an electric multiple unit that operates the Eurostar service from London Waterloo to France and Belgium. It is essentially a long TGV, modified for use in the United Kingdom and in the Channel Tunnel. Differences include the smaller cross-section, to fit within the constrictive British loading gauge; British-designed asynchronous traction motors; and extensive fireproofing in case of fire in the tunnel.
Class 373 is its allocated number under the TOPS classification system in use in Britain. In France, it is known as the series 373000 TGV. In the planning stages, it was also known as the TransManche Super Train (Cross-channel Super Train). The trains were built by GEC-Alsthom (now Alstom) at its sites in La Rochelle (France), Belfort (France) and Washwood Heath (England), entering service in 1993.
The Class 373 is the fastest type of train in the United Kingdom and holds the British rail speed record of 334 km/h (208 mph).
Contents
Types and ownership
Two types were built: the Three Capitals sets, consisting of two power cars and 18 carriages, including two with a powered bogie each; and the North of London sets, consisting of two power cars and 14 carriages, again two with powered bogies. Full sets of both types consist of two identical half-sets that are not articulated in the middle, so that in case of emergency in the Channel Tunnel, one half can be uncoupled and leave the tunnel. Each half-set is numbered separately.
Thirty-eight full sets, plus one spare power car, were ordered by the railway companies involved: 16 by SNCF; four by NMBS/SNCB; and 18 by British Rail, of which seven were North of London sets. Upon privatisation of British Rail by the UK Government, the sets were bought by London and Continental Railways, which named the subsidiary Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd., now managed by a consortium made up of the National Express Group (40%), SNCF (35%), SNCB (15%) and British Airways (10%).
Maintenance
Maintenance of the fleet is carried out at depots in the three capitals. North Pole International depot, adjacent to the Great Western Main Line in west London, is the current UK depot and is where the unused North of London sets and spare power car are stored. On completion of CTRL phase 2, it will be replaced by Temple Mills depot, currently under construction near Stratford International in east London. In France the trains are maintained at Le Landy depot in northern Paris, and in Belgium at Brussels Forest depot.
The 27 sets operating on Eurostar's routes were refurbished in 2004-5 with a new interior, designed by Philippe Starck. The grey-yellow look (in Standard class) and the grey-red look (in First class) have been replaced with a more grey-brown look in Standard, and a grey-burnt orange in First class.
Operations
The bulk of the fleet's operations are on Eurostar's core routes from London Waterloo to Paris Gare du Nord) and Brussels Gare du Midi (in Dutch: Zuidstation). They also operate to Disneyland Paris, and sets equipped for operation on French lignes classiques operate to Avignon (summer only) and on the ski-train service Bourg-Saint-Maurice (winter only).
Three of the Three Capitals sets owned by SNCF are in French domestic use and currently carry the silver and blue TGV livery. The North of London sets have never seen international use but were originally intended to provide direct Regional Eurostar services from Continental Europe to and from UK cities north of London, using the West Coast Main Line and the East Coast Main Line. These never came to fruition because of long proposed journey times, and the proliferation of budget airlines offering lower fares. A few of the sets were leased to GNER for use on its White Rose service between London Kings Cross and Leeds, with two of them carrying GNER's dark blue livery. The lease ended in December 2005.
Fleet Details
| Class | No. built | Unit numbers | Cars per half-set¹ | Description | Operators | Current units | Services operated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class 373/0 | 22 | 3001-3022 | 10 | BR sets | Eurostar | 3001-3022 | London-Paris services |
| Class 373/1 | 8 | 3101-3108 | 10 | SNCB sets | Eurostar | 3101-3108 | London-Brussels services |
| Class 373/2 | 32 | 3201-3232 | 10 | SNCF sets | Eurostar | 3201/02/05-24/29-32 | London-Paris services |
| SNCF | 3203/04/25/26/27/28 | Paris-Lille services | |||||
| Class 373/3 | 14 | 3301-3314 | 8 | North of London sets | - | 3301-3314 | Currently stored at North Pole depot |
¹ including power car
Technical Details
The Three Capitals sets have a capacity of 766 seats (206 1st, 560 std). The North of London sets have a capacity of 558 seats (114 1st, 444 std). All of the trains are at least tri-current and are able to operate on 25 kV, 50 Hz AC (on LGVs, including the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), and on UK overhead electrified lines), 3 kV DC (on lignes classiques in Belgium) and 750 V DC on the UK Southern Region third rail network. The third rail system will become superfluous in 2007 when the second phase of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link is completed between London and the Channel Tunnel, as it uses 25 kV, 50 Hz AC exclusively. Five of the Three Capitals sets owned by SNCF are quadri-current and are also able to operate on French lignes classiques at 1500 V DC.
The following data are for a full Three Capitals set:
Length: 394 m (1,293 ft)
Width: 2.81 m (9.2 ft)
Unladen weight: 752 tonnes
Laden weight: 816 tonnes
Speed in service: 300 km/h (186 mph)
Power under 25 kV AC: 12,000 kW
Power under 3 kV DC: 5,700 kW
Power on 750 V DC: 3,400 kW
Powered bogies: 6
Trailer bogies: 18
Signalling Systems
The trains must be fitted with the signalling systems used in all regions of operation, leading to a clustered control desk in the driver's cab. These include
- AWS, the British signalling system (induction based)
- TPWS, the warning system which supplements AWS
- TVM (Transmission Voie-Machine), used on lignes à grande vitesse
- KVB, the system used on French lignes classiques (electro-mechanical with radio beacons)
- MEMOR, the Belgian signalling system (electro-mechanical)
Record runs
On 30 July 2003, on the opening press run of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link section 1, Eurostar set 3313/14 set a new British rail speed record of 208mph (334.7 km/h), breaking the previous-held record of at 162.2mph (259.5 km/h) set by an Advanced Passenger Train on 20 December 1979.
On 16 May 2006 a Eurostar set a new record for the longest non-stop high speed journey, when set 3209/10 made the 1421km journey from London to Cannes in 7 hours 25 minutes. This was a result of Eurostar's partnership with Da Vinci Code, and the train carried stars Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou and director Ron Howard, who had named the train The Da Vinci Code prior to its journey to the film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
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| Multiple units of SNCF | |
|---|---|
| Diesel and gas-turbine multiple units | |
| Diesel units: | X 2100 - X 2200 - X 2400 - X 2700 - X 2720 - X 2770 - X 2800 - X 3600 - X 3700 - X 3800 - X 4200 - X 4300 - X 4500 - X 4630 - X 4750 - X 4790 - X 4900 - X 5500 - X 5800 - X 9100 - X 72500 - X 73500 - X 73900 - X 76500 - X 94750 - X 97150 |
| Trailers: | XR 6000 - XR 6200 - XR 7300 - XR 7800 |
| Turbotrains: | T 1000 - T 2000 - TGV 001 |
| Electric multiple units | |
| DC: | Z 1200 - Z 1300 - Z 1400 - Z 1500 - Z 3600 - Z 3700 - Z 3800 - Z 4100 - Z 4200 - Z 4400 - Z 4500 - Z 4900 - Z 5100 - Z 5300 - Z 5600 - Z 7100 - Z 7300 - Z 7500 |
| AC: | Z 6000 - Z 6100 - Z 6300 - Z 6400 - Z 11500 |
| Dual-voltage: | Z 8100 - Z 8800 - Z 9500 - Z 9600 - Z 20500 - Z 20900 - Z 21500 - Z 22500 - Z 23500 - Z 24500 - U 25500 - Z 26500 - Z 27500 - Z 92050 |
| Bi-mode units: | B 81500 - B 82500 |
| TGV: | Eurostar - TGV Atlantique - TGV Duplex - TGV La Poste - TGV POS - TGV Réseau - TGV Sud-Est - Thalys PBA - Thalys PBKA |
