High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a 109.9-kilometre (68.3-mile) high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
High Speed 1 approaching the Medway Viaducts
Train 3313/3314 served as a laboratory train, reaching 300 km/h (190 mph) during Section 1 testing in 2003
A Eurostar train on the CTRL, near Ashford
Eurostar trains at St Pancras International
The Channel Tunnel, sometimes referred to informally as the Chunnel, is a 50.46-kilometre (31.35 mi) undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone with Coquelles beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. It is the only fixed link between the island of Great Britain and the European mainland. At its lowest point, it is 75 metres (246 ft) below the sea bed and 115 metres (377 ft) below sea level. At 37.9 kilometres (23.5 mi), it has the longest underwater section of any tunnel in the world and is the third-longest railway tunnel in the world. The speed limit for trains through the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour (99 mph). The tunnel is owned and operated by Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel.
Channel Tunnel
One of the southern tunnel boring machines
Class 319 EMUs ran excursions into the tunnel from Sandling railway station on 7 May 1994, the first passenger trains to go through the Channel Tunnel.
The Channel Tunnel exhibit at the National Railway Museum in York, England, showing the circular cross section of the tunnel with the overhead line powering a Eurostar train. Also visible is the segmented tunnel lining.
