British Rail Class 373

Class 373s in the original Eurostar livery lined up at the former Waterloo International

Eurostar originally ran services to and from Waterloo International along existing mainline tracks, until it moved to St Pancras International in November 2007.

In October 2010, Eurostar ordered ten Class 374 "Eurostar e320" trains from Siemens to run on its existing routes from London to Paris and Brussels as well the newest route to Amsterdam alongside its Class 373 fleet. In 2016, Eurostar announced that it would retain eight Class 373 once the full Class 374 (e320) fleet were in service; the rest of the Class 373 were either stored or scrapped.[19]

As of 2020, eight trains had been refurbished with an additional three un-refurbished units in service.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic e300 trains now run from London to Paris and Brussels with the e320s, as well as exclusively operating the winter ski service to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. [20]

Regional Eurostar set at London King's Cross in 2004

In May 2000, two Regional Eurostar sets were leased to GNER to operate The White Rose services from London King's Cross to York.[21] From May 2002, the White Rose was altered to operate to Leeds with a third set leased.[22][23] Sets 3301–3306 all had GNER livery applied, whereas the rest carried the original Eurostar livery without logos.

The lease expired in December 2005 and they were handed back to Eurostar; they were later used to operate high speed TGV services with SNCF in northern France.[24]

When being used for GNER services, the doors of the first and last carriages were locked out of use at some stations due to the units being too long to stop in the platforms.[25]

Due to restrictions in the power supply on the Hertford Loop Line, only one set was permitted to operate on that route at any one time.[26] They were only allowed to run from King's Cross to York and Leeds because of gauging on the bridges approaching Newcastle. They were not allowed to travel to Bradford Forster Square because the electrical infrastructure beyond Leeds was insufficient. Manually locked selective door opening was used at shorter platforms.

Class 373/2 working for SNCF passing Étaples - Le Touquet

SNCF leased three of Eurostar's "Three Capitals" sets for use on French domestic TGV services (mainly between Paris and Lille). The sets remained in the original Eurostar livery with SNCF branding, and some sets had greyish white or silver front ends. In 2007, SNCF added more Class 373 sets to its fleet by leasing the redundant "North of London" sets from Eurostar. SNCF's lease of the sets was scheduled to last until 2011 with the option to keep the sets running for another two years.[27]

In October 2014, the three "Three Capitals" sets were withdrawn from traffic and stored, having been replaced by TGV Duplex sets. Some have since been scrapped having provided spare parts to other Class 373 sets with remaining sets still stored in Ambérieu, France.

In November 2018, a Class 373 set consisting of 373213 and 373224 was introduced into service by IZY, the low-cost service that used to run between Paris and Brussels by Thalys, replacing a TGV Réseau train.[28]

Eurostar operates three classes of travel on its Class 373 trains:

• Standard class, with 2 seats each side of the aisle, predominantly airline-style with a small number of seats around tables.
• Standard Premier class, with wider seats, 2 on one side and 1 on the other, predominantly with tables but with some single and duo seats. A light meal and drinks are included in the fare.
• Business Premier class, with the same seats as Standard Premier. A full hot meal and drinks are included in the fare, along with lounge access, fast track access to security checkpoints, the ability to arrive 10 minutes before travel, and other amenities.

As Standard Premier and Business Premier use the same seating, the number of carriages allocated to each class may be varied in line with demand.

For the purpose of travel with Interrail, Eurail, and similar passes, Standard class is considered 2nd class and Standard Premier class is considered 1st class. Business Premier is considered to be above 1st class and pass users cannot travel in Business Premier without purchasing a full public rate ticket.

Each Three Capitals set is formed of two power cars and 18 coaches:

North of London and Regional Eurostar sets are formed of two power cars and 14 coaches:

Named units (All since removed)[34]

Formations are described according to the British Rail convention. Plus symbols indicate couplings without shared bogies (see § Bogies and couplings).

A Class 373 passes Herne Hill in 2000

All Class 373 sets were built as tri-voltage, able to operate on 25 kV 50 Hz AC (LGVs, Eurotunnel, High Speed 1, UK overhead electrified lines) and 3 kV DC (Belgian classic lines) using pantographs, and 750 V DC (UK third rail network) using third-rail pickup shoes. The shoes were retracted when switching to overhead power.[36] After the opening of High Speed 1 in 2007, overhead electrification is used throughout; consequently, the third rail shoes were removed. Five of the SNCF-owned sets are quadri-voltage, able to operate from 1,500 V DC (French lignes classiques) in the south of France, used on London–Avignon and ski services.

The trains are powered by asynchronous traction motors. There are four powered axles in each power car and two powered axles in the outer bogie of the front passenger coach (a layout used on the original SNCF TGV Sud-Est (PSE) sets) giving 12 powered axles. Each set draws up to 16 MW with 12 MW (16,092 hp) of traction power, but this provides the lowest power-to-weight ratio in the TGV family.

The class uses five different standards of overhead: domestic catenary in each of Belgium, France and the United Kingdom; fixed-height catenary on LGV lines and HS1; and taller catenary in the Channel Tunnel, designed to accommodate double-deck car-carrying trains and roll-on roll-off heavy goods vehicle trains. The driver must manually lower and then raise the pantograph during the transition between catenary systems.

The Class 373s are fitted with a wide range of signalling systems, these include:

• AWS (Automatic Warning System), the British signalling system, only used when services call at Ashford International[37]
• TPWS (Train Protection & Warning System), the safety system that works with the AWS, only used when services call at Ashford International[37]
• TVM (Transmission Voie-Machine), used on LGV ("lignes à grande vitesse"),[38] Eurotunnel, HS1 and HSL 1[39]
• KVB (Contrôle de vitesse par balises), used between Paris Gare du Nord and LGV Nord, on French Classic Lines and on the HS1 connected throat around London St Pancras. It is electro-mechanical with fixed radio beacons.[37]
• TBL, (the Belgian signalling system,) electro-mechanical, used between Brussels-South/Midi and HSL 1, Belgium.[37]

When travelling at high speeds, it is not possible for the driver to accurately see colour-light signals at the side of the track. With the TVM signalling used on the high-speed lines, the target speed for the end of the current block is displayed with a flashing indication on the in-cab display for the next block if it is at a different speed. Auxiliary signalling information, including the location of neutral sections in the overhead supply and pantograph adjustment zones, is displayed in cab and by the lineside. The operation of circuit breakers over neutral sections is handled automatically on TVM-signalled lines only, and pantograph adjustments must always be manually performed by the driver.[40]

The Class 373 was designed to comply with the Channel Tunnel safety regulations, and consists of two independent half-sets, each with its own power car. Most of the trailer cars are supported on Jacobs bogies shared between adjacent coaches, supporting both of them, with the cars next to the power cars and the two middle coaches (carriages 9 and 10 in a full-length set) not articulated. Non-shared bogies are coupled with Scharfenberg couplers, providing three points for separation in the event of an emergency in the tunnel. The electrical supply cables between a power car and the first carriage are designed to break apart during an emergency separation. In the event of a serious fire in the tunnel the passengers would be transferred into the undamaged half of the train, which would then be uncoupled from the damaged half and driven out of the tunnel.[41] If the undamaged part is the rear half of the train, this would be driven by the guard who is a fully authorised driver and occupies the rear driving cab in the tunnel for this purpose.[42] Due to limitations on driving hours, the driver and guard exchange roles for the return journey.

The articulated design is advantageous during a derailment as the carriages will tend to stay aligned. On non-articulated trains couplings may break and the carriages may jackknife. A disadvantage of articulation is that it is difficult to remove and separate the individual carriages for maintenance. Although the power cars can be uncoupled, specialised depot equipment is needed to split carriages by lifting the entire train at once. Once uncoupled, one of the carriage ends is left without a bogie at the point of separation, so a bogie frame is required to support it.

The Class 373s use three braking systems:

• The 12 traction motors can provide dynamic braking,
• All non-powered axles have disc brakes,
• All powered axles have tread (clasp) brakes with cast iron shoes.

A train travelling at 300 km/h (186 mph) can slow down to stop in 65 seconds, during which time the braking distance is about 2.7 km (1.7 miles).

To combat the hypnotic effect of driving through the tunnel at speed for 20 minutes, the power cars have a very small windscreen when compared to other high-speed trains and TGVs.[43][44][45]

There have been several minor incidents. In October 1994, there were teething problems relating to the start of operations. The first preview train, carrying 400 members of the press and media, was delayed for two hours by technical issues.[46][47][48][49] On 29 May 2002, a train was accidentally routed towards Victoria instead of London Waterloo, causing it to arrive 25 minutes late. The signalling error that caused the incorrect routeing was stated to have caused "no risk" as a result.[50]

On 5 June 2000, 373101/102, while working a Paris to London service, derailed on LGV Nord near Arras, France at 180 mph (290 km/h). 14 people were treated for light injuries or shock, with no serious injuries or deaths. The articulated design was credited with maintaining stability during the incident and the train stayed upright.[51][47] After investigation, the incident was blamed on a component of the transmission between the motors and axles coming loose. To reduce the unsprung mass, TGV trains have the motors mounted on the car body rather than the bogies. In order for the train to be able to manoeuvre around curves, a sliding tripod assembly is used, which became dislodged.

During the night of 18–19 December 2009, there was heavy snow causing widespread disruption to roads, railways and airports across northern Europe. Five trains, one of which was 373217 + 373218, broke down inside the Channel Tunnel because snow in the engine compartment was quickly melted by the warmer temperatures in the tunnel, the resulting water causing electrical and control system faults. Eurostar commissioned an independent report to evaluate what went wrong and how future events could be prevented or better managed.[52] The report's recommendations included:

• Increased number of diesel rescue locomotives with exhaust filtration to be on standby at each end of the tunnel.
• Major changes to the power cars to prevent snow ingress into electrical compartments.
• Better staff training.
• Improved communication internally and with other stakeholders (Eurotunnel and emergency services).
• Better information provision to passengers.

The majority of the recommendations were implemented by 23 October 2012.

On 30 July 2003, on the opening press run of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Section 1, 373313/314 established a new British rail speed record of 334.7 km/h (208.0 mph), breaking the previous record of 261.0 km/h (162.2 mph) set by an Advanced Passenger Train on 20 December 1979.[53][54][11]

On 16 May 2006, 373209/210 created a record for the longest non-stop high-speed journey when it made the 1,421 km (883 mi) journey from London to Cannes in 7 hours 25 minutes.[55] This was a publicity event for the Da Vinci Code film; the train carried actors Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou, with director Ron Howard, who had jointly named the train The Da Vinci Code prior to departing for the film premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.

On 4 September 2007, the first revenue train to use High Speed 1 to St Pancras set a new speed record:[56] it left Paris at 09:44 BST and arrived at St Pancras 2 hours 3 minutes and 39 seconds later. Officials aboard recorded speeds of up to 325 km/h (202 mph) in France and 314 km/h (195 mph) in Britain.[57][58]

Class 373 alongside Mat '54 and NS Class 1500 at Rotterdam Centraal open day in 1996

On several occasions sets appeared at special events and displays, such as at Lille Flandres in 1995,[ex 2] Rotterdam Centraal Station on 6 April 1996,[ex 3] Berlin-Grunewald station for Eurailspeed 1998,[ex 4] Madrid Chamartín railway station for Eurailspeed 2002[ex 5] and at the York National Railway Museum for the Railfest 200 celebrations in 2004.[ex 6]

To celebrate ten years of Eurostar service, a barge was floated down the River Thames in London on 16 November 2004,[ex 7] with a power car on board, specially painted by Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell. Named "Language of Places on Eurostar" by Langlands and Bell, it consisted of the three-letter "destination codes for all the places where Eurostar goes or connects". The barge went under Tower Bridge,[65] past the Houses of Parliament and moored beside the museum-warship HMS Belfast.[66]

At the beginning of August 2015, ex North of London powercar 373308 was added to the national collection and put on display at the National Railway Museum in York.[67]

• Marsden, Colin J. (2011). Traction Recognition (2nd ed.). Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-3494-5.