"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...

"Graeme Wall" wrote in message
...

Good point - especially valid if they run the Eurostars in pairs, one
to Brussels and one to Paris.

They already do, the two services depart Waterloo 5 minutes apart, all to
do
with paths through the Channel Tunnel. IIRC one Eurostar requires two
shuttle paths but a 'flight' of two Eurostars only requires 3 paths, thus
saving a path that Eurotunnel can use either for shuttles or freight.
This
obviously has the same effect on the CTRL: 2 fast trains close together,
then
the next two 25 minutes later, should be fairly easy to flight the slower
trains in the resulting gaps.

They used to time E* like this, but since phase 1 of the CTRL opened this
pairing of departures has been the exception rather than the rule. There
was
apparently a problem at Waterloo International with trying to load up to
1500 passengers on to two trains on opposite sides of an island platform -
congestion and the risk of sending Brussels passengers to Paris and vv. In
the current timetable the only paired departures seem to be:
0629 Paris/0634 Brussels
1039 Paris/1042 Brussels
1909FO Paris/1912 Brussels
1034Su Paris/1037Su Brussels.
Peter


Several end up being paired by the time they arrive at the tunnel, due to
one having stopped at Ashford.
Brian