On Thu, 4 Nov 1999 16:53:47 +1100, you wrote:

>At 21:56 3/11/99 -0700, you wrote:
>
>>Jinx wrote:
>>>
>>> And it's my understanding that UK rolling stock can't even get out of
>>> the French end of the Channel Tunnel to use track that is standard
>>> across the whole of the rest of Europe.

This isn't quite true. The distance between the rails is the same in UK and
France / Belgium / Germany, etc.

The Eurostar passenger trains which run between London and Paris/Brussels run at
300Km/h (186 miles/hr) where the tracks are suitable and if you are travelling
city centre to city centre IME offer a civilised and time-competitive
alternative to flying.

Freight trains with suitable sized wagons (cars) can also go almost anywhere in
Europe.

As a generality the bodies of the passenger trains are wider in Europe than in
the UK, so normal European passenger trains cannot enter the UK. No "normal"
passenger train is allowed through the tunnel in either direction anyway, for
various reasons.

The Channel Tunnel itself also has some trains with huge bodies (but still the
same distance between the rails!) which are limited to running through the
tunnel because they won't fit anywhere else. They operate the "ferry" service.

The gauge (distance betwen the rails) is however different in (among others)
Ireland, Spain, and the former USSR.

I'm happy to answer other questions, but maybe by email. This is way OT.

Richard

-- 
------------Richard Dungan-------------
Radix Electronic Designs, Orpington, UK
  Email: Richard.Radix@BTinternet.com
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