As Eurostar turns 25, we look back at the opening of the Channel Tunnel.
In May 1994, the Queen cut a red, white and blue ribbon to open a 50km tunnel that would mark a shift for her nation – not changing its island status, exactly, but turning it into a more connected one. “If ever there was a turning point in national psychology, then this surely is it,” The Guardian wrote.
Few will need reminding of the trajectory of those ties over the subsequent 25 years, and the past few in particular. But, politics aside, the tunnel carries millions of people every year between the UK and France, Belgium and the Netherlands.
In our April 1994 issue, Alex McWhirter asked whether it would provide a viable alternative to air travel on trips to the Continent, particularly on two of Europe’s busiest routes, London-Paris and London-Brussels.
“It is the quality of the journey that will distinguish rail from air,” a European Passenger Services spokesperson told him. “Passengers can settle down in their seats with three hours of uninterrupted journey time. They can work en route and gather their thoughts for the meeting ahead.”
Back then, Eurostar reached Paris Gare du Nord from London Waterloo in three hours, and Brussels in three hours 15 minutes. Since 2007, services have run from St Pancras International and take two hours 15 minutes for Paris and just under two hours to arrive at Brussels.
“Eurostar is much faster now that it uses HS1 from St Pancras to the Tunnel,” McWhirter says. “From Waterloo it took the classic line to the coast with its feeble third-rail power supply. In 1994 customs and immigration formalities were a relaxed affair conducted on board.”
The rise of low-cost airlines means that rail can no longer undercut prices. McWhirter reported that Eurostar’s London-Brussels tickets in particular would offer better value than airfares inflated by demand from Eurocrats and business people, but now you can travel by plane for a similar or much cheaper price.
Still, Eurostar holds the lion’s share of the point-to-point market between London, Brussels and Paris. Whatever the symbolic links between the UK and the Continent look like in another 25 years, the physical one will at least remain.
