by george matthews
According to Rail magazine DB are going to send a ICE-3 through the Channel Tunnel for test purposes. This will start in October this year.
It has to get approval from the Inter-governmental Commission (Safety Authority) before regular service can be started. At present trains shorter than 375 metres cannot be sent through. These trains are only 200m so are excluded unless the IGC can be induced to change the rules. They have to test evacuation procedures in case a train is trapped in the tunnel.
The plan is to start through trains from London to such destinations as Koeln and perhaps further. It would be especially useful to have them running by 2012 for the Olympic Games.
The British government is planning to sell of the High Speed Route 1 and the price they could get would improve if the number of trains using it rises. Thus some regular trains to Germany would be good for them.
This doesn't solve the problem of immigration procedures. The Home Office would like the Germans to make passengers go through immigration before getting on the train. That would require having a border post at one or more stations in Germany. That might well make the journey uneconomical.
It has to get approval from the Inter-governmental Commission (Safety Authority) before regular service can be started. At present trains shorter than 375 metres cannot be sent through. These trains are only 200m so are excluded unless the IGC can be induced to change the rules. They have to test evacuation procedures in case a train is trapped in the tunnel.
The plan is to start through trains from London to such destinations as Koeln and perhaps further. It would be especially useful to have them running by 2012 for the Olympic Games.
The British government is planning to sell of the High Speed Route 1 and the price they could get would improve if the number of trains using it rises. Thus some regular trains to Germany would be good for them.
This doesn't solve the problem of immigration procedures. The Home Office would like the Germans to make passengers go through immigration before getting on the train. That would require having a border post at one or more stations in Germany. That might well make the journey uneconomical.
