As from November 2007, construction of this new high-speed line linking Saint-Pancras station in London to the Channel Tunnel has brought Paris to within 2 hours 20 minutes of London and Brussels to within 2 hours.

Apart from providing faster links between Great Britain and continental Europe, the project diverts Eurostar traffic away from the conventional rail network. The new line caters for Eurostar traffic, a new high-speed service between London and Kent along with freight trains.

The new line crosses the Thames and the east of London via a tunnel. With the area around Saint-Pancras undergoing major redevelopment, the concession project is part of a public-private partnership.

The concessionaire, London and Continental Railways, awarded the design and management of the project to Rail Link Engineering (RLE), a consortium of four engineering companies : BECHTEL, ARUP, HALCROW and SYSTRA.

SYSTRA allocated 250 engineers and technicians to the project, working at the offices of RLE in London, within the construction companies themselves or at the Paris headquarters of the company to prepare design studies.

SYSTRA’s involvement mainly focused on :

• design and construction engineering ;
• tunnels and bridges ;
• track and catenary ;
• signalling ;
• control centre and energy supply ;
• the design and implementation of the programme for testing, delivery and launch ;
• preparation of maintenance ; and
• detailed pre-project railway studies of Saint-Pancras station.

Key Dates

• 1998 : start of civil engineering work ;
• 2003 : launch of section 1 ; and
• 2007 : opening of section 2.

Key Figures

First section

• length : 70 km of line ;
• number of bridges : 117 ;
• length of tunnel : 3.5 km ; and
• number of trains : four Eurostar trains an hour.

Second section

• length : 39 km ;
• number of intermediate stations : two ;
• length of tunnel : 23 km ;
• length of viaducts ; 6 km ; and
• number of trains : eight Eurostar trains an hour.

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