According to Rail, Eurostar is to scrap the first class 373 Eurostar trains, with the first one due to make its final journey to Kingsbury in the West Mindland this week. The ones going for scrap are those which haven’t been refurbished.
It seems a waste to scrap to 186mph trains, but they’ve been replaced by more modern Velaro trains on Three Capitals services, and aren’t reeally suitable for cascading on to other work. While they still seem relatively new, their 22-year working life is the same as that of the Deltics from the east coast main line. Like the Eurostars, the Deltics were complex and sophisticated machines, built for one specific purpose and unsuitable for anything else once superceded.
It’s only the unrefurbished trains which are going for scrap, the refurbished members of the class 373 Eurostar fleet are likely to be around for a good few years yet.
Are the class 373 eurostar at kingsbury yet? According to the railway magazine the first delivery to kingsbury was cancelled is this true?
All I know is that the first run to Kingsbury was definitely cancelled. It was booked to run straight from St.Pancras International after the set’s final service working from Bruxelles Midi, without even going via Temple Mills depot for formal decomissioning. Someone presumably figured out that it might be a good idea to at least empty the controlled-emission toilet tanks first; it’s unlikely they have facilities for that at Kingsbury.
The yard at kingsbury looks as though it has been cleared ready for the eurostar when they eventually start coming.
First one went north this morning, after running under its own power from Temple Mills to St. Pancras Internation.