On track for continental travel
We have been travelling to and from Europe for thousands of years on boats and ships. Then, in 1994, the Channel Tunnel was completed. It takes passengers under the Channel and into Northern France through a 31-mile (50km) tunnel on the sea bed. Now we have the next stage of the Channel crossing.
The Channel Tunnel rail link extension - now called High Speed 1 - stretches from Folkestone, through Kent to London. This means that you can get from Medway to London in 30 minutes on High Speed 1. The train can reach a speed of 300kph (186mph). It crosses the River Thames and terminates at London’s St Pancras station. Then the rail link to Europe can take people from St Pancras to the Gare du Nord, Paris, in two hours 15 minutes and to Brussels in one hour 51 minutes.
A new station, Ebbsfleet International, has been built on the Channel Tunnel rail link near Gravesend. The most exciting part for the residents of Medway is that it’s only a short drive away and gives us direct transport to the continent. Ebbsfleet brings the main Eurostar service, with four trains per hour during peak times, within minutes of Medway. Ebbsfleet can also be reached on High Speed 1 from Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and Rainham railway stations.
Since December 2009, new high speed domestic trains have been taking people from Ebbsfleet directly to London in only 15 minutes, picking up passengers from all the mainline Medway stations. Ebbsfleet also has 9,000 car parking spaces stretched over six car parks, with 3,000 spaces available for domestic passengers.