High Speed 1 (HS1), officially known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a 108 km (67 mile) high-speed railway line running from London through Kent to the British end of the Channel Tunnel.
The second and final section of the line, travelling across the River Thames and into London St Pancras, opened on 14 November 2007. Built at a cost of £5.2bn, the new link has cut pre-2003 Eurostar journey times by 40 minutes. It is now possible to travel from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes and to Brussels South in 1 hour 51 minutes.
In addition to the international Eurostar services, the route will be used for high-speed "CTRL-DS" domestic commuter services operated with Class 395 trains. Commuter services on High Speed 1 are scheduled to start in December 2009, between Ashford International in Kent and London St Pancras—with a journey time of 37 minutes. There are intermediate stations at Ebbsfleet and Stratford. The new fleet of 29 trains will be able reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour (140 mph).
