Currently Britain's only High Speed railway, High Speed One has become one of the most important arteries for transport between the UK and Continental Europe, with trains running along this route at an almost uninterrupted 186mph as far as the Channel Tunnel portal at Cheriton.
Originally, a high speed line was intended to open with the tunnel in 1994, running through Southern England to London Victoria, but this was overruled and thus a large station at Waterloo was constructed with no segregated route for Class 373 sets to work on, using traditional commuter railways that would often result in these high speed expresses being held up by Network Southeast units.
Proposals for High Speed One began in the late 1990's, and the go ahead was given in 1996 under the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act. Construction began 2001, and by 2003 the first section of the route was operational between the Channel Tunnel and Fawkham Junction in Northern Kent, thus allowing Eurostar sets to run at 186mph for the first 46 miles before returning to the traditional railways at Longfield on the Chatham Mainline, using the long closed line to Gravesend.
Eventually in 2007, the second section of the route the final 39 miles of the route to St Pancras International via Ebbsfleet and Stratford was completed, and opened on the 14th November 2007, with the simultaneous closure of Waterloo International. Third Rail running gear was promptly removed from Class 373 Eurostar sets, and now trains could run at 186mph pretty much from Terminus to Terminus, with the exception of the 100mph limit through the Channel Tunnel itself, reducing journey times by the best part of 40 minutes, with Paris now 2 hours and 15 minutes, and Brussels 1 hour and 51 minutes.
The rolling stock used is primarily Class 373 Eurostar sets that were built in 1993 and are operated primarily by Eurostar, although former GNER Regional Eurostar sets are operated in France. At a length of 1,270 feet and consisting of 18 cars, these are the longest passenger trains operating in Britain.
Also working the route are Class 395 Javelin units operated by Southeastern trains from St Pancras to Margate, Gillingham, Dover, Ashford and Canterbury. Built by Hitachi of Japan in 2009, these units operate at up to 140mph on High Speed One, and have dual-voltage gear to allow running on both overhead and third rail systems.
The location we film at is Rainham in Essex on the flood plain of the River Thames between Dagenham and Dartford, where trains on High Speed One are near enough at their top speeds, the Javelin units at 140mph, and the Eurostar sets nearing 170 to 180mph. At this point the route runs parallel to the London, Tilbury and Southend line, operated by National Express c2c Class 357 electrostar units on trains from Barking to Grays.
Although the weather wasn't being kind, it did result in some spectacular spray effects from the passing trains as they raced towards their respective destinations.
Enjoy!