It used to be called the ChannelTunnelRail Link, but that wasn't exciting enough. So now it's High Speed 1, the UK's very first high-speed railway line. Two-thirds of it opened in 2003, shortening Eurostar journey times to the continent by 20 minutes. And tomorrow the remaining track between North Kent and St Pancras will finally enter service, yanking London another quarter of an hour closer to Paris and Brussels. No more crawling along congested Bromley commuter lines, thank goodness, not once Section 2 is up and running. Tomorrow's promotional focus may be on one gloriously restored Victorian station, but it's these 39km of track that are actually going to make all the difference. Starting at Southfleet Junction, just off the A2...
Ebbsfleet International: Sorry Ashford, this ancient Anglo-Saxon valley is about to nab most of your international passengers. There's a good view of the new station from any passing Gravesend train, a big glass box sitting in the middle of a field surrounded by car parks [aerial map]. Not many people live round here, not yet, but the M25 is nearby and there's no nasty Congestion Charge to deter four-wheeled independent business travellers. Oh, and there's a "hi-tech bus service" too, for those slumming it via Dartford station. The local development group have very big plans for this area. In 2009 proper fast commuter services will begin (Kentish Wilderness to Kings Cross in 17 minutes). And within 20 years there'll be ten thousand new homes on Ebbsfleet's doorstep in a brand new Prescott-friendly Thames Gateway community. Expect each house to cost close to a million quid by then, such is the pulling power of trains to Paris.
Thurrock → Dagenham: Forget the rolling countryside of the Garden of England - Eurostar's passengers are about to be treated to the flat estuarine greyness of sub-Essex. Mmm. The high speed line ducks below the Thames to emerge in an industrial estate close to Lakeside, with gorgeous views of tall chemical silos, piled-up containers and infinite lorry parks. Tilbury Docks is nearby, as is the grand curving QE2 Bridge which carries M25 traffic across the river. The new railway whizzes reassuringly rapidly past the lot. There's brief visual respite along a viaduct overlooking Rainham MarshesRSPB sanctuary, with High Speed 1 now running above the local c2c line from Grays (pictured). The two lines run parallel for several miles, a jarring contrast of sleek and shambling. They're joined partway by the elevated A13 - Billy Bragg's Trunk RoadTo The Sea. The two lines then pass through Ford's Dagenham car works where two giant wind turbines dominate the boxy metal landscape. Heaven knows what French passengers will be thinking of our capital's cityscape by this point. But Barking is one step too far, and High Speed 1 rattles nervously back down beneath the surface. Out of sight, out of mind.
Stratford International: Ten kilometres later and this subterranean engineering marvel re-emerges blinking into the daylight. Back in the 1990s it had seemed such a good idea to build a station at Stratford, even if this meant spending millions digging an enormous empty "box" 24 metres deep into awkward clay and sandy soils [aerial map]. Oh how we locals would relish the chance to do our weekly shopping in Lille rather than Lidl. But this is not to be. No Eurostar trains are planned to stop at this white elephant station, none whatsoever, and not for several years to come either. Nobody wants to slow down for a miserable East End commuter halt just seven minutes out of St Pancras, not when they could be sipping champagne beneath a vaulted central London roof instead. In which case the photographs I took on a recent "Open House" visit might be the only chance you get to take a look inside.
Hackney → King's Cross: It's back below ground for the last few miles, slicing into the Olympic Park almost exactly beneath the site of yesterday's mammoth blaze. Fortunate that this Olympic flame wasn't lit two days later, eh? High Speed 1 then follows the path of the North London line (under the Overground), which avoids doing too much damage to the foundations of the Hackney and Islington terraces beneath which it passes. And finally, triumphantly, it emerges out of what looks like a giant grey hoover nozzle, built across the mainline railway north from King's Cross. The surrounding Rail Lands look bleak and empty at present but they won't be for long. This whole area will shortly be colonised by officesand boutiques and blocks of flats and coffee shops and other essentials of modern inner city living. And it's all thanks to a couple of parallel rails, some overhead cables and a lot of concrete sleepers.
Thurrock → Dagenham: Forget the rolling countryside of the Garden of England - Eurostar's passengers are about to be treated to the flat estuarine greyness of sub-Essex. Mmm. The high speed line ducks below the Thames to emerge in an industrial estate close to Lakeside, with gorgeous views of tall chemical silos, piled-up containers and infinite lorry parks. Tilbury Docks is nearby, as is the grand curving QE2 Bridge which carries M25 traffic across the river. The new railway whizzes reassuringly rapidly past the lot. There's brief visual respite along a viaduct overlooking Rainham Marshes RSPB sanctuary, with High Speed 1 now running above the local c2c line from Grays (pictured). The two lines run parallel for several miles, a jarring contrast of sleek and shambling. They're joined partway by the elevated A13 - Billy Bragg's Trunk Road To The Sea. The two lines then pass through Ford's Dagenham car works where two giant wind turbines dominate the boxy metal landscape. Heaven knows what French passengers will be thinking of our capital's cityscape by this point. But Barking is one step too far, and High Speed 1 rattles nervously back down beneath the surface. Out of sight, out of mind.
Stratford International: Ten kilometres later and this subterranean engineering marvel re-emerges blinking into the daylight. Back in the 1990s it had seemed such a good idea to build a station at Stratford, even if this meant spending millions digging an enormous empty "box" 24 metres deep into awkward clay and sandy soils [aerial map]. Oh how we locals would relish the chance to do our weekly shopping in Lille rather than Lidl. But this is not to be. No Eurostar trains are planned to stop at this white elephant station, none whatsoever, and not for several years to come either. Nobody wants to slow down for a miserable East End commuter halt just seven minutes out of St Pancras, not when they could be sipping champagne beneath a vaulted central London roof instead. In which case the photographs I took on a recent "Open House" visit might be the only chance you get to take a look inside.
