From 2015, Eurostar will be launching a completely new fleet of trains as part of a £700m investment in its service. The new Eurostar e320 trainsets will join the refurbished 373 trains which have been serving the route since it opened in 1994. Manufactured by Siemens and designed by Pininfarina - the world-famous Italian design house responsible for the iconic designs on Ferrari cars - the trains will also begin serving the London-Amsterdam route from 2016.
The Amsterdam route will provide high speed travel to the Dutch capital, famous for its canals, and follows efforts by the Dutch Parliament to improve high speed rail provision in the country. Eurostar plans to run two services a day between London and Amsterdam, with an estimated journey time of four hours, via Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Sciphol. The company continues to advance its services in Europe, following recent extensions to Provence and the Swiss Alps.
The new electric e320 trains have been designed with a maximum operating speed of 200mph, and will be able to operate on rail networks throughout Europe. Where existing Eurostar trains can carry up to 750 passengers, the new e320 designs will have up to 950 seats and stretch 400m. They are based on Siemens Velaro designs currently in use in Germany, Spain, Russia and China which have proved fast, safe and efficient. Designed to compete with an air travel market serving 3m people annually, they will ferrying thousands of passengers around Europe very soon.
