subject: Eurostar Buys New Trains [print this page] French firm Siemens will be checking out its manufacturers insurance policy after winning an order worth 700 million for a new generation of trains to travel between London and Paris via the Channel Tunnel.
A total of ten new high speed trains capable of reaching 320km/h, or 200mph - are to be ordered and will no doubt be covered within the Siemens existing manufacturers insurance cover.
There were a few eyebrows raised in France over the choice of a German supplier not because of doubts over the company's manufacturing insurance but because French manufacturer Alstom was seen as a hot contender for the contract.
But Eurostar fought off any mumblings mostly political with the assertion that the trains had been ordered only after conducting a rigorous test process, which included checking the manufacturer insurance schemes of both companies.
The new trains will be designated e320, obviously referring to their speed. They will have a capacity for 900 passengers, which tops the existing stock by 150 seats. The older trains are also capable of just 300km/h.
The new trains will also be equipped with the latest gadgets, including on-board real-time travel information and interactive entertainment. There will also be Wi-Fi throughout the carriages.
Nicolas Petrovic, the chief executive officer of Eurostar, said that the new additions to the fleet would make the service "...the obvious choice for short-haul European travel."
But whether Eurostar will be the obvious choice of rail operations remains to be seen, as now there is open access on European international lines. This means that Eurostar will lose its monopoly on the Channel Tunnel route.
One competitor looming on the horizon is German state owned rail operator Deutsche Bahn which has intimated that it wants to run services from Cologne and Frankfurt to London. The company is currently running a number of its trains on the lines as part of a test project.
Eurostar recently suffered a huge PR disaster when last winter's bitterly cold temperatures caused the drive units on the trains to take-on snow which then melted and shorted out the electric circuits. Passengers were put through horrendous delays and cancellations as Eurostar tried to figure out what was going wrong and how it could be mixed.
It is hoped that the original maker of the first generation Eurostar trains had good manufacturers insurance, just in case they were discovered to be at fault and did not adequately protect the trains against cold weather, causing the engineering and PR problems for Eurostar.
Most of the original drive units have now been fitted with advanced protection against the harsh winter elements and Eurostar do not expect any further problems, which is just as well, given Deutsche Bahn's interest in the route.
