ユーロスターのオリジナル水中高速列車 – ユーロスター プラスでブリュッセルからロンドンまで時速 300km で移動！

ユーロスターのオリジナル水中高速列車 – ユーロスター プラスでブリュッセルからロンドンまで時速 300km で移動！

For over 30 years, the Eurostar high speed 
train has been linking the UK with France, Belgium and in more recent years the Netherlands, 
with plenty of change to come. This also includes its recent merger with Thalys, which has led 
Eurostar to overhaul its service offering to make it… at least a bit less confusing! 
Today we’ll be checking out the all new and end of another European rail odyssey and this 
time is no exception. Having travelled all the way from Sweden by train, it’s time for the final 
leg home as we pull in to Brussels South station… Despite its name, Bruxelles Midi (or Brussel 
Zuid) acts as the main station for Brussels’ long distance and international traffic. 
Opened in 1869 as a domestic terminus station, it’s gradually evolved into a major hub 
for train travel not only across Belgium, but also internationally throughout 
Europe. There’s also been a large addition of shops and eateries across the 
station, which you may want to make use of before heading to the Eurostar check 
in, but I’ll get back to this shortly… Midi station is the busiest station in Belgium 
and one of the busiest in Europe with over 62,000 passengers daily from lots of different 
countries. It’s also worth noting that Belgium has a total of three official languages 
– French, Dutch and German and with Midi station hosting many connections across Europe 
to places such as the Netherlands, Germany, France and even the Czech Republic, keeping up to 
date with your languages is extremely beneficial. Amongst the International services here is 
Eurostar, most being those which formerly ran under the Thalys brand which merged with Eurostar 
in September 2023. These “Eurostar Red” services run from Paris to Belgium, the Netherlands and 
Germany using TGV PBA and PBKA high speed trains, though the Blue Eurostar trains we all know 
and love have recently been operating some of these services too which can be confusing!
What’s also confusing is the Eurostar stand here which, if you enter from the other side, 
can be an easy mistake to make for the check-in spot! If you enter from the side I started 
at however, the check-in’s pretty hard to miss and ours is open now for the 14:52, one of 9 
trains per day to London St Pancras International… Eurostar recommends to arrive between 90 and 
45 minutes before departure to check in – I usually aim for an hour as you have up to 30 
minutes before departure before check-in closes, and queues can be VERY busy… fortunately 
this wasn’t the case for me today! After scanning my e-ticket on the QR 
reader to head through the barriers, it’s time to go through a quick and 
brief security check – no need to take out any liquids or electronics, 
just put the bags straight through… Finally there’s two passport checks by the 
Belgian side and that of the British as the UK isn’t part of the European Schengen 
Zone, and after this we’re home free! Past the duty-free section of the departure 
lounge, don’t expect anything too fancy – I mean it’s hard enough as it is just to get 
a seat! There are plenty of vending machines though and for those on Premium tickets or Carte 
Blanche and Etoile Eurostar status, the Business Premier lounge… have you tried it before?
Boarding is called around 20 minutes before departure and up the travellators we finally get 
a glimpse of our train – Eurostar use a mixture of their newer Siemens Velaro e320 units and older 
Alstom TGV TMST trains, which were rebranded as “e300” following an extensive refurbishment in 
the late 2010s, the name referring to their top speed of 300km/h. Having been in service since 
Eurostar commenced operations in 1994, only a lucky 8 of the original 38 sets built remain in 
active passenger service between London, Paris and Brussels, the remainder either stored, preserved 
or scrapped. These 8 sets are formed of two power cars and 18 articulated passenger coaches.
I’m in coach 12 for today’s trip, which is one of the 6 possible coaches for both Eurostar Plus and 
Eurostar Premium (formerly Standard or Business Premier) depending on the direction of travel, 
the main difference between Plus and Premium being the increased flexibility, hot meal service 
and lounge access in the latter. The changes were made to better align with the former Thalys 
services, which also now use these designations. Both Plus and Premium accommodation use the 
same seating, which is in a 2+1 configuration and features a very high quality interior, one 
that in my opinion is far more premium than that of the e320s as we’ll see later in the trip. 
There is a handy seat selector too, which for now is only available on London Eurostars, and it 
looks like I’m the man in Seat 61 for this trip! There’s also plenty of luggage 
storage too as to be expected, with plenty of overhead storage space as well as 
larger racks in the vestibules for heavier items. Our journey to London goes via France with one 
intermediate stop at Lille Europe, before heading under the sea via the Channel Tunnel to eventually 
make the final stretch to the British capital, taking as little as 2 hours and 5 minutes 
covering a distance of 373km. Lovely stuff! We leave Brussels on time at 14:52 
as we sit back, relax and look forward to the journey ahead up to London…
We may not be at the far end of the train, but 12 carriages in still provides us with 
the impressive view of our train snaking out of Brussels as we head towards the high 
speed line – this is the HSL 1, which as the name suggests is the first high speed line to 
have been brought into use in Belgium in 1997 and links the country with the French border 
towards Lille and the Channel Tunnel in the North and Paris in the South. Despite the 
poorer acceleration compared to the e320s, our e300 wastes no time in reaching our top 
speed for today of 300km/h and with that, let’s not waste any more time ourselves 
and take a look at the train’s interior… One of the more superior features over 
the e320s is the seat, which especially in Plus or Premium is MUCH comfier on the 
e300s with superb padding and ergonomics. Each side also has foldable armrests 
as well as incredible legroom, which alone is worth the upgrade to Plus 
for the right price and we’ll see why later… You can even adjust this if you wish 
using the manual recline function, which is located on the window side.
Tray table wise, this is quite large as you would expect from a TGV – easy to work 
from and enjoy some food! There’s also a smaller one for holding a mobile device and for a 
mirror to see how good you look. The table seats feature rather smart retractable sections as 
featured on the e320 trains which I rather like! Below this is a seatback pocket, located just 
next the USB A and power socket which can either be a UK 3 pin or a 220v European 
socket depending on where you’re sat, mine being an example of the latter. Above this 
you’ll find a retractable cupholder as well. A reading light is located on the window 
side too, which worked pretty well and was fairly simple to activate through the 
switch next to the recline, with coathooks being located at the top of the seat.
Finally, there’s a drawdown blind which unlike the e320s, blocks the view 
a lot better though there are still some see through portions as you can see!
Overall, a brilliant interior for the Eurostar Plus offer, possibly even a bit overkill for the 
journey times these trains do, but for the price, definitely so… which I’ll get on to later!
Shortly before reaching the end of the HSL 1, the attendants came with the meal service offered in 
Eurostar Plus – as with the old Standard Premier on the London routes, this is in the form 
of a cold meal and if you have any dietary requirements, these can be informed up to 48 hours 
before departure. I went for the Halal option, and the overall presentation is much better 
than it was before Eurostar revamped its service offer… they’ve even managed to update 
the logos on the cutlery and cups provided! The journey on the HSL 1 is a brief 30ish minutes 
before we enter France and make a brief stop at Lille Europe. As at the time of editing, this is 
one of two non-capital stations not to have been axed by Eurostar, the other being Rotterdam 
Centraal in the Netherlands. Most people boarding here will be those connecting 
from other major cities in France or, like me, those who constantly struggle to get 
reservations for the direct service from Paris! We’re now back on the move and soon enter the LGV 
Nord, the second and longest stretch of high speed line on our trip today. The line opened in 1993 
initially serving communities in Northern France, but now provides a key role in serving 
neighbouring Belgium as well as the Channel Tunnel rail link to the UK. Travelling 
again at 300km/h, this is a good opportunity to show just how quiet and smooth the e300 
is thanks to its brilliant ride quality… Soon enough, we pass Calais-Fréthun station, 
a former Eurostar station which has closed indefinitely to international traffic as 
the operator focuses on its core routes. Take note as well of the fencing to prevent 
any illegal immigration, previously a common occurrence in early years of the Eurostar through 
various means, and as the fencing increases and our speed reduces to 160km/h, this indicates 
that we are about to enter the Channel Tunnel, the engineering marvel of this trip.
This is currently the 3rd longest railway tunnel in the world and has the longest 
underwater segment. Opened in May 1994, it has recently celebrated its 30th anniversary, 
much like Eurostar did a month before I did this recording, as highlighted by the commemorative 
decals adorning the Northern portal entrance. Don’t expect any Finding Nemo scenes whilst 
you’re down here – the journey through the tunnel lasts for around 20 minutes so you 
can spend your time browsing the fast and free wifi (which works perfectly fine down here), 
taking in the tunnel trivia which has thankfully returned since the rebrand, or, as I did, do 
a walkthrough of the train to show you more… This is Eurostar Standard, which hasn’t 
really changed since the new fare structure was introduced though the main difference is 
added flexibility, as is the case for Plus and Premium. This makes up 10 carriages of the e300 
sets and I know I’ve been bashing the e320s quite a bit compared to the e300s in this video so far, 
but in all honesty the legroom in standard on the latter is cramped and very poor in comparison 
and whilst the comfort is an improvement, I’d take the space provided on the e320 
Standard offering any day if you ask me! In the vestibules you’ll also find magazines as 
well as the usual safety cards, which have been updated to reflect the new Eurostar brand.
Coaches 6 and 13 are where you’ll find the dedicated café cars, though given the meal 
service offers in Premium and Plus, this is more useful for those in Standard. You can also 
buy Paris Metro tickets and London Underground Oyster cards here too if you don’t fancy wasting 
time in the inevitably long queues upon arrival! The dedicated wheelchair spaces on the 
train are found in carriages 9 and 10, alongside wheelchair accessible toilets which 
are very spacious and clean inside… give or take the small amounts of tap water on the floor!
The standard toilets, which are found throughout the rest of the train, are much less spacious 
but still better than most aircrafts flying between London and Continental Europe!
20 minutes later, we now exit the Channel Tunnel into Folkestone, Kent, following alongside 
the conventional third rail electric lines the e300s previously used for the first 13 years of 
operation. Nowadays, all Eurostar trains use the 300km/h HS1 line, the UK’s first and currently 
only high speed line which opened in 2007. Below us is Ashford International which, alongside 
Ebbsfleet and Calais which we passed earlier, is another victim of Eurostar’s “station-cull” with 
again no plans set yet for reinstating services. The Medway Viaduct is soon crossed, which 
is the site of one of Eurostar’s e300 trains setting the UK speed record of 334.7km/h 
in July 2003, which still stands to this day and is recorded by a monument just next to 
the viaduct, though it has seen better days! After passing the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, 
it’s now the home straight to St Pancras. I’m pleased to see Eurostar making changes to its 
offerings to make it less confusing with those of the former Thalys routes and the service offering 
seeing a much-needed presentation improvement too, though as is always my complaint with 
Eurostar, they REALLY need to reduce their prices – Eurostar Plus fares start at £98 and 
Standard at £51 with Premium a whopping £279, though prices are often A LOT higher than this 
due to dynamic pricing. Ways around this are to use Eurostar Snap where possible or, as I did, 
use an Interrail pass if you’re planning lots of train travel in Europe, with me paying €40 to 
reserve my seat due to compulsory reservation. But there’s good news at least – Eurostar will 
hopefully be facing competition in the next few years, with the main challengers expected to be 
a Trenitalia/Evolyn joint venture and/or Virgin Trains, and with Eurostar’s expansion plans 
into Germany and Switzerland on the table in the coming years, there’s certainly some hope 
for travel from the UK into Continental Europe! After passing the white elephant of Stratford 
International, we now reach the majestic London St Pancras International, arriving 2 minutes late and 
bringing an end to another European rail odyssey… Now you’ve heard from me, I want to hear 
from you – have you taken the Eurostar before? What route did you do and are 
you excited for the future both for and against the operator? Let me know in the comments!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this video – please like and share it if you did to aid the channel’s 
growth and don’t forget to subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications 
for more content such as this weekly! Now I’m off home for some much needed rest and 
relaxation before heading back to work. Thanks so much for coming with me on this trip and I look 
forward to bringing you with me on my next one!

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The Eurostar service has seen many changes over its 30 years of operation, however they fortunately still have a small number of their original e300 TMST trainsets in operation between London, Brussels and Paris. I took one of these trains as I wrapped up another European train trip to try the “new” Eurostar Plus, showing what you can expect from boarding to the onboard meal service on this 2 hour cross border journey. Enjoy the video!

Journey details:
Date of travel – December 2024
Operator – Eurostar
Train type – Class 373 TMST “e300”
Class of travel – Eurostar Plus
Origin – Bruxelles-Midi
Destination – London St Pancras International
Price – Eurostar Standard – £51/€59.52/$68.57
Eurostar Plus – £98/€114.37/$131.76

Eurostar Premium – £279/€325.61/$375.11
Distance – 373km/232 miles
Journey time – 2 hours, 7 minutes

Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video!

Music from EpidemicSound and is used under license.

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Link to the Eurostar Plus menu: https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/eurostarplusmenu

Link to the Eurostar Café menu: https://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/travel-info/your-trip/food-on-board/our-menu

#class373 #eurostar #e300 #tmst #tgv #brussels #london #trains #tripreport #vlog #highspeedrail #highspeedtrain #channeltunnel

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:37 Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel Zuid
01:49 Rosetta Stone – Learn a New Language Today!
03:07 Eurostar (inc Boarding Process)
06:03 Eurostar Plus, Boarding & Route Information
07:50 Eurostar Plus Interior Review
09:26 Meal Service & Travelling Through France
11:01 The Channel Tunnel
12:08 Walkthrough
13:37 Exiting the Channel Tunnel & Entering the UK
14:33 Journey Summary, Conclusions & Pricing
15:38 Arrival into London & Outro – Thanks for Watching!