1.
National Rail
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The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage, liveries and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was also used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger, Bliss, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now also possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO. Heathrow Express and Eurostar are also not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
2.
Ebbsfleet Valley
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Ebbsfleet Valley is a new town and redevelopment area in Kent, South East England, and part of the Thames Gateway, southwest of Gravesend. It is named after the valley of the Ebbsfleet River, which it straddles, although a small part of the site in the east lies within the borough of Gravesham, Ebbsfleet Valley primarily sits in the borough of Dartford. The name Ebbsfleet is a creation of seventeenth-century antiquaries, partly inspired by the name of Ebbsfleet in Thanet,75 km to the east. It was announced on 16 March 2014 that redevelopment of the area would be led by a development corporation, much of the land is brownfield and was formerly used by industry, having been previously owned by the APCM, Blue Circle and most recently by Lafarge. The new community is planned to have a population of 40,000, Ebbsfleet International railway station was opened in November 2007 and provides services to Continental Europe on High Speed 1. Domestic services to St Pancras railway station in central London are operated by Southeastern, in March 2014, the British government announced its intention to construct a garden city at Ebbsfleet for up to 15,000 homes. In November 2015, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer attempted to start the protect by injecting ₤300m. Richard Rogers, a government adviser on cities, said. East London still has masses of land, so why are we building 15 miles out. This is not a sustainable option. ”The development is referred to as a garden city and this was said to be inspired by the Stockholm suburbs such as Hammarby where the design there is to have cycleways, and 1,500 self-build homes, houseboats and parkland. Neither the Ebbsfleet Development Corporation nor the Dartford Borough Council planning committee are happy with the quality, the planning committee chair, Derek Hunnisett, said “We are looking for a higher quality than the normal and what we are getting is the norm – standard off-the-peg stuff. ”. Despite Ebeneezer Howardss vision for Garden Cities to be leafy, with ample plots, in gardens with pretty self contained cottages. There should be an abundance of living room, playing room, Ebbsfleet will be a much higher density housing development than an actual garden city of 30 persons per hectare. This already features multi-storey flats, and dence road layouts dominated by private parking, the nearest house is 24 minutes walk to the station. This also undermines the principle of self-reliant sustainability of the social, transport. This too contradicts Howards self/locally focused sustainability principles, the current development already contradicts policy and academic papers written in recent times to inform the coalition governments blueprint. A strong landscape structure, that matures over time to create a leafy green character, tree lined streets, green verges and planted front gardens. It has been confirmed they will be offering speeds of 100Mbit/s which will transfer TV, Broadband, the 01987 code was adopted in April 2008, in preference to the vacant 01321 code
3.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
4.
Borough of Dartford
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The Borough of Dartford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England, in the far north west of the county. It is part of the contiguous London urban area, according to the 2011 Census, its population was 97,365. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Dartford, Swanscombe Urban District, in the mid-1990s review of local government in Kent, consideration was given to merging the borough with that of adjoining Gravesham to form a new unitary authority. However, the proposal proved unpopular amongst residents who took part in the consultation, since 2010, the main areas MP is Gareth Johnson who replaced the outgoing Howard Stoate. The mayor for the year May 2014 to May 2015 is Councillor Avtar Sandhu MBE, the leader of the council, from February 2006, is Councillor Jeremy Kite. There are seven stations in the borough, at Stone, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Dartford, all on the North Kent Line. From Dartford there are three lines serving London and one to Gravesend, the Medway Towns and eastern Kent, for many services Dartford is the terminus. Ebbsfleet International railway station on High Speed 1 opened in the east of the borough on 19 November 2007, six high-speed services to Paris and five to Brussels run daily from here by Eurostar. The first of the Fastrack bus services, using a combination of ordinary roads, the service runs from the Temple Hill area of Dartford, through the town centre and on to Bluewater Shopping Centre, Greenhithe, Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend. Three of the main roads pass through the borough boundaries, the M25 and M20 motorways. The A20, A225 and the A226 roads also cross the borough, the M25 motorway bisects the district Swanscombe and Greenhithe have low rise homes and mid rise by the river Thames. Housing is a mixture of high rise in Dartford centre through to low rise in all of the villages. The number of listed buildings in the district exceeds 50 and this includes 7 churches listed in the highest grading in the national listing system. The population rose in the 10 years to 2011 from 85,911 to 97,365, by 13. 3%,87. 3% of residents were born in England, which was 2. 5% higher than the average for the South East. The next most common group of countries of birth was the non-EU, however this was 0. 3% lower than the average for the South-East, as to older people, the borough has a below national and regional proportion. With 80. 8% of households with a car or van,1. 0% of the population lived in a communal establishment in the area. As to homes, as 12. 6% of properties in the area are detached, being almost at the mean for the country, Christians form just over 60% of the areas population. In October 2012 Dartford and Gravesham councils co-announced plans for a theme park to be built on the Swanscombe peninsula
5.
Ordnance Survey National Grid
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The Ordnance Survey National Grid reference system is a system of geographic grid references used in Great Britain, different from using Latitude and Longitude. It is often called British National Grid, the Ordnance Survey devised the national grid reference system, and it is heavily used in their survey data, and in maps based on those surveys. Grid references are commonly quoted in other publications and data sources. The Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system is used to provide references for worldwide locations. European-wide agencies also use UTM when mapping locations, or may use the Military Grid Reference System system, the grid is based on the OSGB36 datum, and was introduced after the retriangulation of 1936–1962. It replaced the previously used Cassini Grid which, up to the end of World War Two, had issued only to the military. The Airy ellipsoid is a regional best fit for Britain, more modern mapping tends to use the GRS80 ellipsoid used by the GPS, the British maps adopt a Transverse Mercator projection with an origin at 49° N, 2° W. Over the Airy ellipsoid a straight grid, the National Grid, is placed with a new false origin. This false origin is located south-west of the Isles of Scilly, the distortion created between the OS grid and the projection is countered by a scale factor in the longitude to create two lines of longitude with zero distortion rather than one. Grid north and true north are aligned on the 400 km easting of the grid which is 2° W. 2° 0′ 5″ W. OSGB36 was also used by Admiralty nautical charts until 2000 after which WGS84 has been used, a geodetic transformation between OSGB36 and other terrestrial reference systems can become quite tedious if attempted manually. The most common transformation is called the Helmert datum transformation, which results in a typical 7 m error from true, the definitive transformation from ETRS89 that is published by the OSGB is called the National Grid Transformation OSTN02. This models the detailed distortions in the 1936–1962 retriangulation, and achieves backwards compatibility in grid coordinates to sub-metre accuracy, the difference between the coordinates on different datums varies from place to place. The longitude and latitude positions on OSGB36 are the same as for WGS84 at a point in the Atlantic Ocean well to the west of Great Britain. In Cornwall, the WGS84 longitude lines are about 70 metres east of their OSGB36 equivalents, the smallest datum shift is on the west coast of Scotland and the greatest in Kent. But Great Britain has not shrunk by 100+ metres, a point near Lands End now computes to be 27.6 metres closer to a point near Duncansby Head than it did under OSGB36. For the first letter, the grid is divided into squares of size 500 km by 500 km, there are four of these which contain significant land area within Great Britain, S, T, N and H. The O square contains an area of North Yorkshire, almost all of which lies below mean high tide
6.
Network Rail
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Network Rail is the owner and infrastructure manager of most of the rail network in England, Scotland and Wales. Network Rail is an arms length public body of the Department for Transport with no shareholders, since 1 September 2014, Network Rail has been classified as a public sector body. Britains railway system was built by companies, but it was nationalised by the Transport Act 1947. Infrastructure and passenger and freight services were separated at that time, between 1994 and 2002 the infrastructure was owned and operated by Railtrack. The Hatfield train crash on 17 October 2000 was a moment in the collapse of Railtrack. The costs of modernising the West Coast Main Line were also spiralling, the purchase was completed on 3 October 2002. The SRA was abolished in November 2006, the company moved its headquarters to Kings Place,90 York Way, from 40 Melton Street, Euston, in August 2008. In October 2008, Sir Ian McAllister announced that he would not stand for re-election as chairman of Network Rail and he had held the position for six years. He noted that as Network Rail moved to a new phase in its development it was appropriate for a new chairman to lead it there, many track safety initiatives have been introduced in the time Network Rail has been responsible for this area. This ruling came into force in January 2009 for maintenance and property workers and in April 2009 for infrastructure, in 2009, allegations appeared in the media from the Transport Salaried Staffs Association concerning treatment of Network Rail employees. Former chief executive Iain Coucher was also accused of financial impropriety involving unspecified payments to his business partner Victoria Pender during his tenure at Network Rail, an internal investigation held by Network Rail in 2010, vetted by its auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers, uncovered no evidence of wrongdoing. An independent enquiry headed by Anthony White QC in 2011 further examined the claims, critical commentary appeared in the media concerning the knighthood awarded to John Armitt in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to engineering and construction. The reorganisation has been interpreted as a move back towards vertical integration of track, in 2016 Network Rail failed to check whether the Flying Scotsman could fit through tunnels along the Borders Route resulting in the cancellation of a trip just 24 hours before departure. Scottish Transport Minister Derek Mackay branded the affair a debacle, Network Rails attempt to electrify the West Coast Mainline has been dogged by poor planning and cost overruns, the projected cost has ballooned from by £1.2 billion to £2. It however owns a fleet of departmental stock, although it owns over 2,500 railway stations, it manages only 18 of the biggest and busiest of them, all the other stations being managed by one or other of the various train operating companies. Network Rail has a 15-year lease on Square One in Manchester with 800 staff in one of Manchesters largest refurbished office spaces, Network Rail should not be confused with National Rail. National Rail is not an organisation, but merely a brand, used to explain, the majority of Network Rail lines also carry freight traffic, some lines are freight only. A few lines that carry passenger traffic are not part of the National Rail network, conversely, a few National Rail services operate over track which is not part of the Network Rail network
7.
High Speed 1
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High Speed 1, legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is a 109-kilometre high-speed railway between London and the United Kingdom end of the Channel Tunnel. The line crosses the River Medway, and under the River Thames and it cost £5.8 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour on section 1, intermediate stations are at Stratford International in London and Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with times of London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes. As of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of 300 kilometres per hour and 320 kilometres per hour Class 374 trains, domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour, DB Cargo UK run freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time. The CTRL project saw new bridges and tunnels built, with a combined length nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself, in 2002, the CTRL project was awarded the Major Project Award at the British Construction Industry Awards. The line was transferred to government ownership in 2009, with a 30-year concession for its operation being put up for sale in June 2010. The concession was awarded to a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in November 2010, a high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnels opening in 1994. This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h for this part of their journey, a similar high-speed line in Belgium, from the French border to Brussels, HSL1, opened in 1997. In Britain, Eurostar trains had to run at a maximum of 160 km/h on existing tracks between London Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel and these tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, and jeopardising reliability. The next plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, and this opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station. The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, as too difficult to construct and environmentally damaging. The idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, the original LCR consortium members were National Express Group, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric. While the project was development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways. On 14 November 2006, LCR adopted High Speed 1 as the name for the completed railway. Official legislation, documentation and line-side signage have continued to refer to CTRL, as the 1987 Channel Tunnel Act made government funding for a Channel tunnel rail link unlawful, construction did not take place as it was not financially viable. Construction was delayed until passage of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 which provided construction powers that ran for the following 10 years, the chief executive of the time Rob Holden stated that it was the largest land acquisition programme since the Second World War
8.
Train station
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A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
9.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
10.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
11.
Bluewater (shopping centre)
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Bluewater Shopping Centre is an out-of-town shopping centre in Stone, Kent, England, outside the M25 Orbital motorway,17.8 miles east south-east of Londons centre. Elsewhere in Europe only Istanbuls Cevahir Mall and Viennas Shopping City Süd are bigger, the floor plan is a triangular shape with 330 stores, including 3 anchors,40 cafés and restaurants, and a 13-screen cinema. The centre employs 7,000 people and serves over 27 million visitors a year, a main rival is the Lakeside Shopping Centre and its two retail parks by road 8 miles away in West Thurrock, Essex, just across the River Thames or 3.2 miles point-to-point. It is owned by four major UK institutions, Prudential plc and PRUPIM, Land Securities, in 1994, quarry operator Blue Circle approached Australian mall developer Lend Lease to form a partnership. Lend Lease also formed a pool of investors, called the Lend Lease Retail Partnership. John Lewis was the first major tenant to sign up in February 1995, albeit with major concessions, such as the offer of 300,000 sq ft, one fifth of the floor space. That gave Bluewater credibility to sign more names, including the two anchor stores, House of Fraser followed in June 1996 by Marks & Spencer. 90% of the space was committed by March 1998. Construction, undertaken by Bovis Lend Lease, started on 1 May 1996, at its peak, the site employed 2,500 workers simultaneously. In all,20,000 people worked 11.5 million hours on the construction of Bluewater, at the planned opening date,16 March 1999, Bluewater was inaugurated with 99% of the shops open for business. The total cost of construction was around GBP £400 million, in May 2005, Bluewater introduced a code of conduct to ban swearing, clothing that obscures the face, and groups of more than five without the intention to shop. The policy has divided opinion, although Tony Blair did show support, in late 2006, Dartford Borough Council granted planning permission for Bluewater to build a two-story events venue of 5200 m2, and further extend the south side of the centre. Construction on the began in early 2010, and when completed in 2011 the expansion added more restaurants to the Plaza section, including a Jamies Italian, Wagamamas. The new Glow events centre opened as part of the extension spans two floors, and has events such as the BBCs Good Food Show, Spring. The events venue was developed alongside the existing entertainment provision in this area, during 2012, the Wintergarden food court area off Rose Gallery was extensively refurbished. KFC relocated to Thames Walk to continue to trade during the development, the previous large castle-style McDonalds was replaced with a simple serving counter. A proposal was put forward in early 2013 to expand the West Village dining, existing businesses would have to be relocated or removed from the centre to allow the works to go ahead. There are over 13,000 free parking spaces, covered over six car parks, official website Bluewater on The Retail Database
12.
Gravesend
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Gravesend /ˌɡreɪvzˈɛnd/ is an ancient town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles east-southeast of Charing Cross on the south bank of the Thames Estuary and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is the centre of the Borough of Gravesham. Its geographical situation has given Gravesend strategic importance throughout the maritime, another theory suggests that the name Gravesham may be a corruption of the words grafs-ham – a place at the end of the grove. Frank Carr asserts that the name derives from the Saxon Gerevesend, in the Netherlands, a place called s-Gravenzande is found with its name translating into Sand belonging to the Count. The s is a contraction of the old Dutch genitive article des, the neighbourhood of Gravesend, Brooklyn in the United States is said by some to have been named for s-Gravenzande. The Domesday spelling is its earliest known record, all other spellings – in the later Domesday Monachorum. A variation, Graveshend, can be seen in a record of 1422, where Edmund de Langeford was parson. The municipal title Gravesham was adopted in 1974 as the name for the new borough, stone Age implements have been found in the locality since the 1900s, as has evidence of an Iron Age settlement at nearby Springhead. Extensive Roman remains have been found at nearby Vagniacae, and Gravesend lies immediately to the north of the Roman road connecting London with the Kent coast – now called Watling Street, Domesday Book recorded mills, hythes, and fisheries here. Milton Chantry is Gravesends oldest surviving building and dates from the early 14th century and it was refounded as a chapel in 1320/21 on the original site of a former leper hospital founded in 1189. Gravesend has one of the oldest surviving markets in the country and its earliest charter dates from 1268, with town status being granted to the two parishes of Gravesend and Milton by King Henry III in its Charter of Incorporation of that year. The first Mayor of Gravesend was elected in 1268, although the first Town Hall was not built until 1573, in 1380, during the Hundred Years War, Gravesend suffered being sacked and burned by the Castilian fleet. In 1401, a further Royal Charter was granted, allowing the men of the town to operate boats between London and the town, these became known as the Long Ferry and it became the preferred form of passage, because of the perils of road travel. On Gravesends river front are the remains of a Tudor fort built by command of King Henry VIII in 1543 and it is not known what caused her death. Her funeral and interment took place on 21 March 1617 at the church of St George. The site of her grave was underneath the chancel, though since the previous church was destroyed by fire in 1727 her exact resting place is unknown. Journeys by road to Gravesend were historically quite hazardous, since the main London-Dover road crossed Blackheath, stagecoaches from London to Canterbury, Dover and Faversham used Gravesend as one of their stages as did those coming north from Tonbridge. In 1840 there were 17 coaches picking up and setting down passengers, there were two coaching inns on what is now Old Road East, the Prince of Orange and the Lord Nelson
13.
Thames Gateway
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The Thames Gateway is an area of land stretching 70 kilometres east from inner east London on both sides of the River Thames and the Thames Estuary. First named by the UK government, which is unusual in the United Kingdom, uptake of and appreciation of the varies, with many people preferring the traditional term. It stretches from Westferry in Tower Hamlets to the Isle of Sheppey/Southend-on-Sea, additional government funds were supplied to the Regional Development Agencies who supported some projects in the Gateway. Striking precursor examples of development are those pioneered at Canary Wharf and on the Greenwich Peninsula, amid steep house price inflation and an economic boom in 2004 the government also expressed the firm belief that new private sector housing here and elsewhere would reduce that inflation. The Department for Communities and Local Government is responsible for co-ordinating the project, comparisons may be drawn with developments east of Paris along the Marne valley, which applied to a significantly smaller volume of land. Formerly, the development was split into zones each with a different agency responsible for delivery, the zones were, Before 2003 most conspicuous development was situated west of Beckton. There have been substantial housing schemes at Chafford Hundred, Chatham and Greenhithe, there are also fears of increased erosion. The plan, which would have required the raising the level by 15 m. was also rejected by the Confederation of British Industry as too expensive. On the question of capacity, the Government has established the independent Airports Commission. The Commission is examining the nature, scale and timing of any requirement for additional capacity to maintain the UKs global hub status, the options include outside possibility of a floating airport off the Isle of Sheppey. The north of Kent has historically been an area and is under great pressure by developers. In addition to the variety of wildlife found on and along the Thames. A public inquiry found in favour of a freight depot proposed by ProLogis at Howbury in Slade Green. The proposal is to some of the Metropolitan Green Belt in the Crayford Marshes beside the present train depot. Roxhill has been seeking to modify the planned 149 acre sustainable distribution park with modern multi modal connections since at least 2015, proLogis’ appeal was upheld by a 2007 Public Inquiry on the basis that the proposal supports the Energy policy of the United Kingdom and generates new jobs. It was also found that night-time noise levels risked generating complaints from residents at Moat Lane, dave Wardle, of the Environment Agency, believes that London and the Thames Estuary currently have one of the best tidal defence systems in the world. The Environment Agency assesses these systems provide a high standard of protection well beyond 2030. However they also advise that future development in the Thames Gateway must go hand in hand with flood risk management, the Agency insists it is important that effective flood risk management of the whole Estuary is not prejudiced by early decisions and development on the Gateway
14.
Urban renewal
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Urban renewal, which is generally called urban regeneration, revitalization in the United States, is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures and its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of reconstruction. The process has had a impact on many urban landscapes. This process is carried out in rural areas, referred to as village renewal. In some cases, renewal may result in urban sprawl and less congestion when areas of cities receive freeways and expressways, Urban renewal has been seen by proponents as an economic engine and a reform mechanism, and by critics as a mechanism for control. It may enhance existing communities, and in some cases result in the demolition of neighborhoods, many cities link the revitalization of the central business district and gentrification of residential neighborhoods to earlier urban renewal programs. The agenda that emerged was a doctrine that assumed better housing conditions would reform its residents morally and economically. The first area to be targeted was the notorious slum called the Devils Acre near Westminster and this new movement was largely funded by George Peabody and the Peabody Trust and had a lasting impact on the urban character of Westminster. Slum clearance began with the Rochester Buildings, on the corner of Old Pye Street and Perkins Rent and they are one of the earliest large-scale philanthropic housing developments in London. The Rochester Buildings were sold to the Peabody Trust in 1877, angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts funded an experimental social housing estate, among the first of its kind, on the corner of Columbia Road and Old Pye Street. In 1869 the Peabody Trust built one of its first housing estates at Brewers Green, between Victoria Street and St. Jamess Park. What remained of the Devils Acre on the side of Victoria Street was cleared. In 1882, the Peabody Trust built the Abbey Orchard Estate on former marshland at the corner of Old Pye Street, like many of the social housing estates, the Abbey Orchard Estate was built following the square plan concept. Blocks of flats were built around a courtyard, creating a space within the estate functioning as recreation area. The courtyards were meant to create a community atmosphere and the blocks of flats were designed to allow sunlight into the courtyards, the blocks of flats were built using high-quality brickwork and included architectural features such as lettering, glazing, fixtures and fittings. The estates built in the area at the time were considered model dwellings and included shared laundry and sanitary facilities, innovative at the time, the design was subsequently repeated in numerous other housing estates in London. State intervention was first achieved with the passage of the Public Health Act of 1875 through Parliament, the Act focused on combating filthy urban living conditions that were the cause of disease outbreaks. It required all new construction to include running water and an internal drainage system
15.
A2 road (Great Britain)
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The A2 is a major road in southern England, connecting London with the English Channel port of Dover in Kent. This route has always been of importance as a connection between the British capital of London and sea routes to Continental Europe. It was formerly known as the Dover Road, unlike the other single digit A-roads in Great Britain, the A2 does not form a zone boundary. The Zone 1/2 boundary is the River Thames, the route of the current A2 follows a similar route to that of a Romano-British ancient trackway. It was an important route for the Romans linking London with Canterbury and it had river crossings at Rochester over the River Medway, Dartford and Crayford. The Romans paved the road and constructed the first Rochester Bridge across the Medway, access to London was via London Bridge which was first constructed by the Romans in AD50. The road was known as Item a Londinio ad portum Dubris and appeared in the Antonine Itinerary, in Anglo-Saxon times it became part of a longer road known as Wæcelinga Stræt. By the 17th century the road had fallen into disrepair and sections were converted into roads by various Turnpike Acts passed by Parliament. Rochester Bridge was rebuilt in cast iron in 1856, the London, Chatham and Dover Railway completed a railway route from London to Dover in the 1860s. Access to London from the A2 across Thames was improved with the completion of Tower Bridge, Blackwall Tunnel, the road was given the reference A2 within the Great Britain road numbering scheme in the 1920s. The Dartford Southern By-pass, which relieved chronic congestion on the old route through Dartford provided considerable local employment during the Post–World War I recession and it was opened by the Prince of Wales in 1924. It is estimated that the project provided 63,500 days work to unemployed people. The 3-lane stretch of the A2 between Falconwood and Cobham was built in stages from around 1963 until 1973, a section of Ringway 3 (part of the proposed M16 motorway linking to the A2, which later formed part of the M25 motorway opened between 1974 and 1977. The Rochester Way Relief Road, was opened in 1988, the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge opened in 1991. A new flyover for A2 Westbound to M25 Northbound traffic was completed late 2007, in 2008, a section of the A2 beside Gravesend was widened to 3/4 lanes between Pepperhill to Cobham. It was also re-routed away from the houses of Gravesend/Singlewell to make room for the new lanes, the old route of the A2 has been made into a footpath/cyclepath. The new road was opened in 2009, a section of the old road has been turned into Cyclopark, with footpaths, cyclepaths and an equestrian route along the old road. A new Lower Thames Crossing down river from the Dartford Crossing linking to the A2 has been proposed by the Department for Transport in 2009 and its original alignment roughly followed a mix of the ancient Celtic route and the turnpike road to Dover
16.
M25 motorway
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The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a 117-mile motorway that encircles almost all of Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. An ambitious concept to build four concentric ring roads around London was first mooted in the 1960s, further widening is in progress of minor sections with plans for managed motorways in many others. To the east of London the two ends of the M25 are joined to complete a loop by the non-motorway A282 Dartford Crossing of the River Thames between Thurrock and Dartford and this crossing, which consists of twin two-lane tunnels and the four-lane QE2 bridge, is named Canterbury Way. Passage across the bridge or through the tunnels is subject to a toll, in the opposite direction, to the east of the point where the M25 diverges from the main east–west carriageway, that carriageway become the M26 motorway. The radial distance from London varies from 12.5 miles in Potters Bar to 19.5 miles in Byfleet.8 miles, major towns listed as destinations, in various counties, adjoin the M25. North Ockendon is the settlement of Greater London situated outside the M25. In 2004, following a poll, the London Assembly mooted for consultation alignment of the Greater London boundary with the M25. Inside the M25 and outside/beyond the M25 are colloquial, looser alternatives to Greater London sometimes used in haulage, the Communications Act 2003 explicitly uses the M25 as the boundary in requiring a proportion of television programmes to be made outside the London area. Two motorway service areas are on the M25, and two others are accessible from it. Those on the M25 are Clacket Lane between junctions 5 and 6 and Cobham between junctions 9 and 10 and those directly accessible from it are South Mimms off junction 23 and Thurrock off junction 31. Cobham services opened on 13 September 2012, originally, the M25 was unlit except for sections around Heathrow, major interchanges and Junctions 23–30. By 2014 only one significant stretch was still SOX-lit and the units were removed the same year, the motorway passes through five counties. Junctions 1A–5 are in Kent, 6–14 are in Surrey, 15–16 are in Buckinghamshire, 17–25 are in Hertfordshire, policing of the road is carried out by an integrated policing group made up of the Metropolitan, Thames Valley, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire and Surrey forces. The M25 is one of Europes busiest motorways, in 2003, a maximum of 196,000 vehicles a day were recorded on the motorway just south of London Heathrow Airport between junctions 13 and 14. A precursor of the M25 was the North Orbital Road, the idea of an orbital road around London was first proposed early in the 20th century and then re-examined in Sir Charles Bresseys and Sir Edwin Lutyens The Highway Development Survey,1937. Sir Patrick Abercrombies County of London Plan,1943 and Greater London Plan,1944 proposed a series of five roads encircling the capital, the northern sections of the M25 follow a similar route to the World War II Outer London Defence Ring. Little was done to progress these plans until the 1960s when the Greater London Council developed its London Ringways plan consisting of four rings around the capital. Sections of the two outer rings – Ringway 3 and Ringway 4 – were constructed in the early 1970s and were integrated into the single M25 orbital motorway, but the Ringways plan was hugely controversial owing to the destruction required for the inner two ring roads
17.
St Pancras railway station
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St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus located on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the terminus of its main line. When inaugurated, the train shed by William Henry Barlow was the largest single-span roof in the world. The restored station has 15 platforms, a centre. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways and is managed by Network Rail, high-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009. St Pancras is often termed the cathedral of the railways, the train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The terminal is one of relatively few stations in England to feature multilingual signage, all notices are written in English. Ashford International station has similar bilingual signs, other stations with foreign-language signs include Southall, which has signs in Punjabi, Wallsend Metro station, and Moreton-in-Marsh. In March 2014, the public relations team commissioned a study of mispronounced words. St Pancras occupies a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide, the south is bounded by the busy Euston Road, with the frontage provided by the former Midland Grand Hotel. Behind the hotel, the Barlow train shed is elevated 5 m above street level, to the west, the original station is bounded by Midland Road with the British Library on the other side of the road. To the east, it is bounded by Pancras Road and is opposite Kings Cross station, the new northern half of the station is mainly bounded to the east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is Kings Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads, St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the level has three groups of terminal platforms, domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. The international platforms do not occupy the width of the Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the ticket hall of Kings Cross St Pancras tube station. The main pedestrian entrance is at the end of this concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach Kings Cross station. There are several items of art on display to the public at St Pancras, at the south end of the upper level, a 9-metre high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock
18.
Stratford International station
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Stratford International is a National Rail and connected Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham, east London. On the DLR it is a terminus for services via Canning Town. Construction of the National Rail station was completed in 2006 but it opened in 2009. In 2011 an extension of the DLR was opened to connect Stratford International to the wider London public transport network, the DLR station is physically separate and across the road from the HS1 station. Oyster cards are valid for travel to and from the DLR station, which is in Travelcard zone 2/3, the four-platform HS1 station is built within Stratford Box, a 1. 1-kilometre concrete-sided cutting. It is located on the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The station is on the High Speed 1 railway between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet International, as the station lies just inside the eastern boundary of the London Olympic Park, much of the surrounding land was little more than construction site until mid-2012. The tracks descend into tunnel at both ends of the station as its platforms are closer to the surface than the tunnels, Stratford International has four platforms in the station box, two at the outer edges and two shorter ones forming a central island. The main line tracks run down each side of the station between the adjacent platforms. There is a room on the island platforms but not on the outer platforms. Thirty-five metres beyond the portals, the tunnels pass just below the Central line tunnels turning north from Stratford. The bottom invert of each Central line tunnel is only 4.3 metres and 8.0 metres above the running tunnels. The station was not authorised by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, in the centre of the station is a single-track inclined viaduct, rising to the east end along and above the length of the island platforms. This is to allow trains to leave the station box. The full service started on 13 December 2009 using Class 395 multiple units, the peak hour service is 19 trains arriving at St Pancras between 07,00 and 09,59. During the 2012 Olympic Games, a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the high speed service, two of these would be extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet would be increased to twelve per hour, to enable the domestic services to stop at platforms previously designed for Eurostar trains the platforms had to be raised. Originally planned to open in July 2010, this was delayed to 31 August 2011, London Buses routes 97,108,308 and 339 and night route N205 serve the station
19.
Ashford International railway station
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Ashford International railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the town of Ashford, Kent. It is 56 miles 9 chains down-line from London Charing Cross and is situated between Pluckley and Westenhanger stations on the main line, domestic trains that call at Ashford are operated by Southeastern and Southern, and international services by Eurostar. Eurostar trains use platforms 3 and 4, while domestic trains use the original platforms 1 and 2, while all tracks are electrified with 750 V DC third rail, platforms 3 to 6 are also electrified with 25 kV50 Hz AC overhead lines. The local bus stops are located at the entrance to the domestic terminal, the international terminal is connected to a multi-storey car park via a footbridge and also to the nearby Ashford Designer Outlet by a signposted footpath. The present station was opened by the South Eastern Railway on 1 December 1842, the station then passed on to the Southern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. Another station was opened by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 1 July 1884 for services via Maidstone East to London and this only lasted 15 years until 1 January 1899 when passenger services were diverted to the former South Eastern Railway station. Remarkably the complete station survived for handling freight and engineering trains until it was closed and demolished around 1999 for construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. When sectorisation was introduced in the 1980s by British Rail, the present station was served by Network SouthEast until the privatisation of British Rail, Ashford station has been rebuilt on two occasions in recent history. The station layout up until the early 1960s consisted of two tracks, two through platform loops and two bay platforms accessible from the east for terminating services. The supporting columns of these canopies were stamped with the date 1908, the station was rebuilt as Ashford International during the early 1990s for international services from mainland Europe, this included the addition of two platforms to the north of station. The majority of the overbridge and platform buildings from the early 1960s rebuild were destroyed during the rebuild of the early 1990s, a small section of the 1960s overbridge does remain however, as an emergency exit between the up island platform and the up side car park. There are ticket office windows in the booking hall, as well as ticket vending machines. There is a ticket office window in the Eurostar station. The international ticket counter in the Eurostar station is manned for part of the day. International services started on 8 January 1996, before the completion of High Speed 1 in November 2007, twelve Eurostar trains a day called, heading to Paris or Brussels. However this number was reduced because of the opening of Ebbsfleet International station to 3 trains to Paris, a direct train for Brussels was reinstated in 2009. From May 2015 a new service to Marseille runs up to five times a week. Seasonal Ski trains also run in the months to Bourg-Saint-Maurice in the French Alps
20.
Ebbsfleet, Thanet
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Not to be confused with Ebbsfleet Valley in northwest Kent. Ebbsfleet is a hamlet near Ramsgate, Kent, at the head of Pegwell Bay, historically it was a peninsula on the southern coast of the Isle of Thanet, marking the eastern end of the Wantsum Channel that separated Thanet from the Kentish mainland. Ebbsfleet is the see of the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, an episcopal visitor for the Province of Canterbury. Ebbsfleet Lane marks the line of the peninsula today, the Wantsum Channel silted up and was reclaimed in the 15th century, all that remains of it is the channel of the River Stour, which enters the sea by Richborough Power Station. There are a couple of houses and Ebbsfleet House at Stonelees, where Ebbsfleet Lane meets the Sandwich road, claudius landed his army at Richborough on the other side of the channel, to start his invasion of 43 AD, and it became a major port of Roman Britain. A fleot is a creek and Eopwine is a Germanic personal name, the modern Ebbsfleet may have developed from Eoppa/Eobba, the arrival of the English is commemorated by a monument and replica longship up the coast at Cliffsend. The Battle of Wippedesfleot between the Britons and the English in 465 is thought to have taken place at Ebbsfleet, in this island landed the servant of our Lord, Augustine, and his companions, being, as is reported, nearly forty men. They had, by order of the blessed Pope Gregory, taken interpreters of the nation of the Franks and this has been interpreted to mean Ebbsfleet was where Augustine landed. In 1884, St Augustines Cross was erected on the lane between Cliffsend and Sevenscore to commemorate his first sermon in Kent, Richborough Power Station situated to the south was operational from 1962 to 1996, the towers were demolished in 2012. The power lines are being reused for the Thanet Wind Farm in the sea off Broadstairs, Ebbsfleet Solar Farm is situated on the site of the former Richborough Power Station. It has a capacity of 4.9 MWp and became operational in August 2011, the solar farm is part of a larger ongoing project, Richborough Energy Park
21.
Waterloo International railway station
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It stands on the western side of Waterloo railway station, London but was managed and branded separately from the main-line station. In June/July 2017 the buildings and platforms will be incorporated into the main Waterloo station, then after a period of redevelopment they will be permanently re-opened in December 2018 as part of the main station. The station was designed by the architectural firm Grimshaw Architects with Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners and it cost £120 million and was completed in May 1993, in time for the scheduled completion of the Channel Tunnel. Waterloo International had five platforms, numbered 20 to 24, one taken from the main-line station, unlike the platforms at the main station, they were long enough to accommodate trains of up to 20 coaches. The platforms were all covered by a 400 m long glass and steel vault of 37 arches forming a prismatic structure, the five vaults are supported by a grid of cylindrical concrete columns that rise up from the carpark level, through the circulation levels to the platforms. A structural glass wall separated the existing Waterloo Station from the International station, a two-level reception area fronted the main station concourse. The curvature of the roof is steeper on the western side, the roof arches are made up of two dissimilar curved trusses, triangular in section, with compression booms of tubular steel and tension booms of solid steel. Both compression and tension members are curved — structural engineer Anthony Hunt described the trusses as banana shaped, curved, tapering trusses were later used to great effect at Galpharm Stadium in Huddersfield. The first Eurostar departure, on 14 November 1994, was formed of Eurostar units 373004/373003, from the next day Eurostar services used their new London terminus of St Pancras International. Ownership of Waterloo International station passed to BRB Ltd. with no plans for the future use of the Eurostar platforms. At the time of closure, Network Rail had no plans to use the other four former international platforms for domestic use. From 4 July 2010 to 2 January 2011 two of the disused platforms hosted theatrical performances of E. Nesbits The Railway Children, the audience was seated either side of the actual railway track. The show includes the use of an engine, coupled to one of the original carriages from the 1970s film, being shunted in. All of the platforms were temporarily used for regional services during the refurbishment of the main station starting in Christmas 2013. Platform 20 came back into use for timetabled services in May 2014. In March 2016, it was reported that the platforms and terminal building will be incorporated into the station as part of a £800 million refurbishment of Waterloo. The terminal building will house a new shopping mall, british Rail developed a series of concepts during the late 1980s with an initial location at the opposite end of the concourse. The in-house design team assisted by Sir Alexander Gibb and Parters as traffic Engineers co-opted the services of Anthony Hunt so as to take the structure forward
22.
Kelly Holmes
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Dame Kelly Holmes, DBE is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1500 metres events and won a medal for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British records in events and still holds the records over the 600,800 and 1000 metre distances. Inspired by a number of successful British middle distance runners in the late 1970s and early 1980s and she joined the British Army, but continued to compete at the organisations athletics events. She turned to the athletics circuit in the early 1990s and in 1994 she won the 1500 m at the Commonwealth Games. She won silver in the 1500 m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and bronze in the 800 m at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Holmes won the 1500 m at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and the 800 m bronze at the Munich European Championships that year. The 2003 track season saw her take silver in the 1500 m at the World Indoor Championships and the 800 m silver medals at the World Championships and first World Athletics Final. She took part in her final championship in 2004 — she turned in a double gold medal-winning performance at the Athens Olympics. For her achievements she won awards and was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005. She retired from athletics in 2005 and has made a number of television appearances. She participated as a contestant in the 2015 series of Bear Grylls, Holmes was born in Pembury, Kent, the daughter of Derrick Holmes, a Jamaican-born car mechanic, and an English mother, Pam Norman. Her mother,18 at the time of her birth, married painter and decorator Michael Norris, Holmes grew up in Hildenborough, Kent, where she attended Hildenborough CEP School, and then Hugh Christie Comprehensive School in Tonbridge from the age of 12. Her hero was British middle distance runner Steve Ovett, and she was inspired by his success at the 1980 Summer Olympics, in the Army, she was initially a lorry driver in the Womens Royal Army Corps, later becoming a basic Physical Training Instructor. Holmes then elected in June 1990 to attend the first course to be run under the Armys new Physical Training syllabus, although militarily quite young, Holmes athletic prowess was impressive and she was encouraged to attend the course selection for full-time transfer to the Royal Army Physical Training Corps. Holmes eventually qualified as a Sergeant Class 1 PTI, although she remained in the Adjutant Generals Corps after the disbandment of the WRAC in 1992. At another event, she competed in and won an 800 metres, a 3000 metres, for several years she combined athletics with employment in the Army, until increased funding allowed her to become a full-time athlete in 1997. At least once, she considered suicide, but she sought help from a doctor and was diagnosed with clinical depression. While she could not use anti-depressants because it would affect her performance,2004 saw Holmes arrive at a major competition, the Athens Olympics, with no injury worries for just about the first time in her career
23.
Eurostar
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Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Avignon, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Paris. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel, the London terminus is St Pancras International, with the other British calling points being Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with trains to Paris terminating at Gare du Nord, Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, services to southern France as of 1 May 2015 and seasonal services to the Alps in winter. The service is operated by 27 eighteen-coach Class 373/1 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, the French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and also with TGV trains. Eurostar has become the dominant operator on the routes that it operates, other operators have expressed an interest in starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. On 1 September 2010, Eurostar was incorporated as a corporate entity called Eurostar International Limited. EIL is owned by SNCF, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hermes Infrastructure, in June 2014, the UK shareholding in Eurostar International Limited was transferred from London and Continental Railways / Department for Transport to HM Treasury. In October 2014, it was announced that the UK government planned to raise £300 million by selling that stake. In March 2015, the UK government announced that it would be selling its 40% share to an Anglo-Canadian consortium made up of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and this sale was completed in May 2015. The history of Eurostar can be traced to the 1986 choice of a tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France. A previous attempt at constructing a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974, but was quickly aborted, in 1988 construction began on a new basis. Eurotunnel was created to manage and own the tunnel, which was finished in 1993, British Rail and SNCF contracted with Eurotunnel to use half the tunnels capacity for this purpose. In 1987 Britain, France and Belgium set up an International Project Group to specify a train to provide an international high-speed passenger service through the tunnel. An order for 30 trainsets, to be manufactured in France but with some British, on 20 June 1993, the first Eurostar test train travelled through the tunnel to the UK. Various technical difficulties in running the new trains on British tracks were quickly overcome, on 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels-South railway station in Brussels. In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average speed of 171.5 km/h between London and Paris
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