TWENTY YEARS OF THE CHANNEL TUNNEL
was completed before proper highspeed services between London and Paris operated and traffic numbers jumped immediately .”
High-speed rail has cut journey times from Folkestone , Kent , to London to 37 minutes , transforming opportunities for locals . Ashford , another Kent town served by a highspeed line has seen huge expansion in industry and the housing market on the back of its excellent connection to the rest of the UK and the continent . Keefe concluded : “ If you look at what has happened since the Channel Tunnel was built , just in Kent , and mirrored in the north of France , you have a high speed line with all the benefits that brings to the area , a motorway and the M2 upgrade , and international stations at Ashford and Ebbsfleet , which because of its excellent connections has been nominated as the next new town in the UK .
“ A lot of industry has moved into the area , including from overseas . It ’ s made Kent an international business centre . Economically that ’ s a very powerful argument not only for the Channel Tunnel , but the infrastructure that goes alongside it .”
UK HIGH SPEED RAIL LINKS TO THE CHUNNEL
When the tunnel itself opened , there was no high-speed track in the UK .
High Speed 1 ( HS1 ) is a 108-kilometre ( 67 mile ) high-speed railway between London and the Channel Tunnel . Plans to link the Tunnel to the UK ’ s much-debated HS2 rail service via the existing HS1 line at London have stuttered .
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