Channel Tunnel Rail Link - from Mega-Project to Operational Railway

In 1996 London & Continental Railways was selected by the Government to build and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, and to own and run Eurostar (UK) Limited, the UK arm of the Eurostar train service. Section 1 of the new high speed railway, from the Channel Tunnel to Southfleet, was opened (on time and on budget) on 28th September 2003 cutting 20 minutes off the London to Paris journey time and greatly improving reliability and availability. Section 2 of the new railway, from Southfleet to St. Pancras via new stations at Ebbsfleet and Stratford, was scheduled to be completed in Summer 2007 and should reduce journey times by a further 20 minutes and give Eurostar a purpose built high speed line between London and Paris. This presentation describes the truly heroic feats achieved and the key challenges as the project focus turned from construction and fit out to testing and commissioning.