On 29 Jan, 13:08, "Paul Scott" wrote:

"Mizter T" wrote:

On 29 Jan, 11:55, Paul Terry wrote:

In message
,
writes

Any date fixed yet, does anyone know?

I imagine it will be 13th December, which is the day that SouthEastern's
high speed service is due to start.

I agree. A more intriguing question is when are Eurostar trains going
to begin stopping there? There has been some speculation in the past
that Stratford Int'l might never actually see any Eurostar trains stop
there, and passengers would be herded onto the Southeastern high-speed
trains to get to either Ebbsfleet or St. Pancras. I've pondered this
in the past, but am now of the attitude that they surely will stop
there in the future - it's just a question of when. I'm guessing the
answer lies in good part as to when the surrounding area will look
rather less like a building site.

I don't think Stratford International will ever see more than a token
Eurostar train or two stopping on the way to/from St Pancras. OTOH it makes
a lot of sense to use it as the only London stop if through trains to the
Midlands ever happen. *Oh - and I see a pig has just crashed to earth in my
back garden...


Perhaps you're right, quite possibly so in fact. Ignoring political
considerations, it basically depends on whether the perceived market
for international travellers to and from Stratford would make it
worthwhile stopping there. Perhaps there might be a few trains that
stop there timed well for business meetings and the like. The reason
I'm playing on the business angle is that businessfolk like
convenience - the need to go to Ebbsfleet (or St. P) to change and
also jump through the check-in hoops would undoubtedly be a hassle in
comparison to a direct train. Were it not for the check-in palaver
then making use of the SE high-speed trains and interchanging at say
Ebbsfleet would be a more attractive proposition. And as we know, the
check-in requirement isn't about to disappear any time soon.

As you say, in the world of porcine aviation Stratford would make a
good London stop for trains heading to points north.

So, was Stratford *International* station always a mere sop to garner
support for the CTRL - I dare say that's more or less what Tony Polson
would come up with. The complicating factor in such an analysis is the
plan for the Kent domestic high-speed services - I'm a bit hazy on the
background to these plans, I understand that there was always the
potential for them but it was the 1998 CTRL financial restructuring
that led to them being a certainty (basically they were part of the
return for the investment of public money).