'The complete man' Raymonds to dress women now!
Staff Reporter, Economic Times, 5 Sep 2007
NEW DELHI: Leading apparel manufacturer Raymond Ltd, which forayed into the premium women western-wear market with the launch of ColorPlus Women on Wednesday, has earmarked investments of Rs 400-500 crore in the current year for capacity expansion.
"We would be investing Rs 400-500 crore in the current year on manufacturing and retailing," Raymond Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania told reporters here.
He said the company had plans to increase the number of its outlets across the country to 1,000 from about 430 at present in the next three years.
Aiming for a share in the Rs 800-crore premium women western-wear market, Raymond launched the ColorPlus Women range of apparels which would be available through 175 points of sale in the next three years.
The company expects revenues to the tune of Rs 150 crore from this segment in the next two-three years. The ColorPlus Women range would include day-wear, sports wear, business wear as well as formal wear.
"ColorPlus Women will vie for a significant part of the Rs 800 crore premium western womens wear market, which is growing at 20 per cent annually," Singhania said.
By the end of the year, Raymond is looking to open five exclusive ColorPlus Women stores as well as 12 lifestyle stores. The brand would be launched in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad.
Singhania said Raymond is also mulling introducing a kids wear range under the ColorPlus brand in one year.
Source : 'The complete man' Raymonds to dress women now! article on EconomicTimes.com
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel
India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel
BS Reporter / New Delhi September 05, 2007
India still remains high on the list of manufacturing sites for Intel - the world's largest chip-maker.
"Manufacturing in India is important for Intel, but the government was slow in coming out with its semiconductor manufacturing proposal and missed the window. We had to commit ourselves to options like Vietnam and China," said Craig Barrett, chairman, Intel, who was here today.
"We don't have any plan to set up a plant here now. We have enough capacity in the current manufacturing plants, and do not need any new plant," he added.
In the absence of a well-documented plan for the semiconductor policy by the government when Intel began its discussions, the chip-maker announced its $2.5 billion investment to build a micro-chip plant in north-eastern China in March. This will be Intel's first semiconductor plant in Asia with the production of chipsets to begin in 2010.
The company is also in "serious talks" with the Indian government government and private companies for rolling out WiMAX infrastructure. "We are a major contributor to base technology, hence WiMAX is also of importance to us," said Barrett who has advised the government to "use the spectrum allocation with the best possible technology and not specific to any technology."
According to a report by research firms Maravedis and Tonse Telecom, India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012. French technology major Alcatel has already set up a research and development centre in Chennai to develop WiMAX technology, and trial runs have been on in Baramati, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore.
Barrett was in Delhi to announce the collaboration between Intel’s World Ahead Programme with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Intel has partnered with 16 organisations including NIIT, Educomp Solutions, Fortis Healthcare, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Apollo in India, to provide the progamme their expertise in connectivity, education and medical care.
Source : India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel article on Business-Standard.com
BS Reporter / New Delhi September 05, 2007
India still remains high on the list of manufacturing sites for Intel - the world's largest chip-maker.
"Manufacturing in India is important for Intel, but the government was slow in coming out with its semiconductor manufacturing proposal and missed the window. We had to commit ourselves to options like Vietnam and China," said Craig Barrett, chairman, Intel, who was here today.
"We don't have any plan to set up a plant here now. We have enough capacity in the current manufacturing plants, and do not need any new plant," he added.
In the absence of a well-documented plan for the semiconductor policy by the government when Intel began its discussions, the chip-maker announced its $2.5 billion investment to build a micro-chip plant in north-eastern China in March. This will be Intel's first semiconductor plant in Asia with the production of chipsets to begin in 2010.
The company is also in "serious talks" with the Indian government government and private companies for rolling out WiMAX infrastructure. "We are a major contributor to base technology, hence WiMAX is also of importance to us," said Barrett who has advised the government to "use the spectrum allocation with the best possible technology and not specific to any technology."
According to a report by research firms Maravedis and Tonse Telecom, India will have 13 million WiMAX subscribers by 2012. French technology major Alcatel has already set up a research and development centre in Chennai to develop WiMAX technology, and trial runs have been on in Baramati, Pune, Delhi and Bangalore.
Barrett was in Delhi to announce the collaboration between Intel’s World Ahead Programme with United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). Intel has partnered with 16 organisations including NIIT, Educomp Solutions, Fortis Healthcare, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Apollo in India, to provide the progamme their expertise in connectivity, education and medical care.
Source : India still on priority list for manufacturing: Intel article on Business-Standard.com
Bhairavi Desai leads taxi strike in New York
Bhairavi Desai leads taxi strike in New York
Parveen Chopra, Indo-Asian News Service, New York, September 05, 2007
Fewer taxis were seen on the roads in New York and it was taking longer to hail one as the two-day strike by a section of the city's 13,000 cab drivers started on Wednesday morning. Drivers of yellow cabs -- about 60 per cent of them are South Asian - have been protesting the installation of GPS software and credit card readers by the government.
The strike has been organised by the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance, which claims to represent 7,000 taxi drivers. Advocating the cabbies' cause in the media is the Alliance's executive director, Bhairavi Desai.
Profiled by Time magazine and named by Ms Foundation as one of 10 female role models, Desai's work with the Alliance has gone on for more than a decade, bringing changes to the lives of the cabbies, but often pitting her against the New York establishment.
In 1998, she organised the largest one-day taxi strike in city's history, over low pay and long hours for the drivers. She was able to unite Indian and Pakistani drivers despite the tensions on the subcontinent because of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.
The history and women's studies graduate from Rutgers University, 36-year-old Desai lives in New Jersey.
While Mayor Michael Bloomberg has downplayed the likelihood of a widespread disruption by the taxi strike, the city has empowered taxis to pick up multiple passengers and the transit system has added some buses.
A rival cabbies coalition, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, has mounted a counterstrike operation. It sent dozens of volunteers to taxi stands at the city's airports and the main rail terminal asking drivers not to join the stoppage.
At issue is a requirement for the installation in each cab of a high-tech system that permits credit card payments, has a touch-screen monitor that lets passengers watch television and follow their ride on an electronic map, and includes a global positioning device, which tracks the cabs' travels. In exchange, the transport authorities agreed to raise fares by 26 per cent.
Drivers, however, have said that the global positioning device and automated system recording each trip are too invasive, and that transaction fees charged by credit card companies eat into their profits. The system can also delay the start of their metres because drivers must log on before every fare, they said.
The drivers also said the TV monitor at the back of their seat heats up after a few hours of use and the constant sound of the television can be disorienting.
Source : Bhairavi Desai leads taxi strike in New York article on HindustanTimes.com
Parveen Chopra, Indo-Asian News Service, New York, September 05, 2007
Fewer taxis were seen on the roads in New York and it was taking longer to hail one as the two-day strike by a section of the city's 13,000 cab drivers started on Wednesday morning. Drivers of yellow cabs -- about 60 per cent of them are South Asian - have been protesting the installation of GPS software and credit card readers by the government.
The strike has been organised by the New York Taxi Workers' Alliance, which claims to represent 7,000 taxi drivers. Advocating the cabbies' cause in the media is the Alliance's executive director, Bhairavi Desai.
Profiled by Time magazine and named by Ms Foundation as one of 10 female role models, Desai's work with the Alliance has gone on for more than a decade, bringing changes to the lives of the cabbies, but often pitting her against the New York establishment.
In 1998, she organised the largest one-day taxi strike in city's history, over low pay and long hours for the drivers. She was able to unite Indian and Pakistani drivers despite the tensions on the subcontinent because of nuclear tests by India and Pakistan.
The history and women's studies graduate from Rutgers University, 36-year-old Desai lives in New Jersey.
While Mayor Michael Bloomberg has downplayed the likelihood of a widespread disruption by the taxi strike, the city has empowered taxis to pick up multiple passengers and the transit system has added some buses.
A rival cabbies coalition, the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers, has mounted a counterstrike operation. It sent dozens of volunteers to taxi stands at the city's airports and the main rail terminal asking drivers not to join the stoppage.
At issue is a requirement for the installation in each cab of a high-tech system that permits credit card payments, has a touch-screen monitor that lets passengers watch television and follow their ride on an electronic map, and includes a global positioning device, which tracks the cabs' travels. In exchange, the transport authorities agreed to raise fares by 26 per cent.
Drivers, however, have said that the global positioning device and automated system recording each trip are too invasive, and that transaction fees charged by credit card companies eat into their profits. The system can also delay the start of their metres because drivers must log on before every fare, they said.
The drivers also said the TV monitor at the back of their seat heats up after a few hours of use and the constant sound of the television can be disorienting.
Source : Bhairavi Desai leads taxi strike in New York article on HindustanTimes.com
Maguire swaps vows with Meyers
Maguire swaps vows with Meyers
Staff Reporter, Times Of India, 5 Sep 2007
Maguire and Meyer, who met early in 2003 and have kept their relationship fairly low profile, are parents to 9-month-old daughter, Ruby.
Actor Tobey Maguire tied the knot with his long time girlfriend Jennifer Meyers on Sept 3, 2007 in Kona on Hawaii's Big Island.
The couple swapped vows in front of a small group of family and friends including Leonardo DiCaprio and Lukas Haas.
The thrilled bride couldn’t help gushing about how excited she was for the future.
"Let's just say this is truly the best time of my life," E! Online quoted Meyer, as saying.
"I'm walking on air. I'm getting married, starting a family and have an amazing company," she added.
Maguire and Meyer, who met early in 2003 and have kept their relationship fairly low profile, are parents to 9-month-old daughter, Ruby.
The Spider-Man star had earlier revealed to Parade magazine in April that settling down with his family and having stability in life meant the most to him.
"Growing up the way I did, I had a very serious ambition to make some money, to have some security and comfort in my life," People quoted Maguire as telling the mag.
"I'm at that stage where I have to start thinking about where I want Ruby to grow up and go to school...Even though L.A. is pretty laid-back, maybe it would be a good idea to try a different, less ambitious kind of atmosphere," he said.
Source : Maguire swaps vows with Meyers article on Times Of India
Staff Reporter, Times Of India, 5 Sep 2007
Maguire and Meyer, who met early in 2003 and have kept their relationship fairly low profile, are parents to 9-month-old daughter, Ruby.
Actor Tobey Maguire tied the knot with his long time girlfriend Jennifer Meyers on Sept 3, 2007 in Kona on Hawaii's Big Island.
The couple swapped vows in front of a small group of family and friends including Leonardo DiCaprio and Lukas Haas.
The thrilled bride couldn’t help gushing about how excited she was for the future.
"Let's just say this is truly the best time of my life," E! Online quoted Meyer, as saying.
"I'm walking on air. I'm getting married, starting a family and have an amazing company," she added.
Maguire and Meyer, who met early in 2003 and have kept their relationship fairly low profile, are parents to 9-month-old daughter, Ruby.
The Spider-Man star had earlier revealed to Parade magazine in April that settling down with his family and having stability in life meant the most to him.
"Growing up the way I did, I had a very serious ambition to make some money, to have some security and comfort in my life," People quoted Maguire as telling the mag.
"I'm at that stage where I have to start thinking about where I want Ruby to grow up and go to school...Even though L.A. is pretty laid-back, maybe it would be a good idea to try a different, less ambitious kind of atmosphere," he said.
Source : Maguire swaps vows with Meyers article on Times Of India
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
Geetanjali is a drug addict
Geetanjali is a drug addict
Staff Reporter, Times Of India, 5 Sep 2007, TNN
In the shocking wake of former model Geetanjali Nagpal being found living off the streets in Delhi, a victim of drug abuse and alcohol addiction, BT explores what makes people from the glam world reach this sorry state.
Is it stress and the inability to take fame and success that comes their way at an early age. Or something else?
Fashion photographer Akash Srivastaav, who met Geetanjali Nagpal at a party in Goa in 1997, recalls how he went up to her and said that she looked like model Ediesedwick from the Andy Warhol factory. “She had the aura of pulling you towards her. She laughed and said, ‘Though not as pretty as her.’ I was stunned that she knew what I was talking about as very few at that point had heard about Ediesedwick.”
Fashion in India was all about being pretty and angelic, then. Every model and shoot they would do were about the beautiful side of beauty. “But Geetu, as we called her, was a kind of rebel in fashion. The way she would hold her cigarette or sit, there was a sense of absolute decadence in her right from that time. We called her hateli, a term that signified headstrong, or dimag khiska, because she was wild and totally against the establishment. She didn’t care about anything or anybody. All she wanted was to be in a world of her own which didn’t follow any norm,” said Akash.
He also remembers once when he was about to shoot her, she just disappeared from the studio leaving everyone in a tizzy. Hours of searching led them to beneath a huge table inside the studio, “where madam was cozily sleeping”. Akash added, “During the years that I knew her, she never did drugs, at least not in front of me. She would occasionally drink wine. But there was an edginess in Geetu all the time. She would always say that she is intelligent and never believed in the concept of beauty.”
Delhi photographer Amir Rajpal, who shot Geetanjali Nagpal some 14 years back, remembers her as having lovely eyes, a beautiful body and a very good attitude. He can’t believe the state she is in today.
“She used to hate the sight of people smoking. How could she take to drugs herself? She was such a level-headed girl with no nakhras. God knows what went wrong, but I still can’t believe that the girl lying on a Paharganj street is her.”
Designer Rocky S doesn’t know her, but said, “When models start out early in life and get addicted to a starry life, they automatically gravitate towards destruction. The glamour world is a very high stress job, and to keep it up, at every step they resort to such abuses.” However, Manish Malhotra, who also did not know Geetanjali, refuses to believe that stress could have driven her to such measures. “The decision to ‘do it’ or ‘not do it’ is very personal. I have a lot of stress in my job too, but I don’t even smoke, so why blame it all on stress. Young models must understand that they need to look good, fresh and their job should lead them to enjoy life, not destroy it,” he advised.
Textile revivalist and designer Ritu Kumar does not recollect Geetanjali’s name or face for Noyonika and Sushmita were the leading models then. But she said, “Somehow, what she resorted to seems to be the most unfortunate episodes that could happen to a good model.”
Achala Sachdev, former model and choreographer now, added, “Who knows, maybe she had a drug problem even before she entered the modelling scene. Blaming stress as the reason is so passe. Why don’t young models understand that everyone here wants to make money, fame and enjoy life. Drugs can only add on to the problems.”
Source : Geetanjali is a drug addict article on Times Of India
Staff Reporter, Times Of India, 5 Sep 2007, TNN
In the shocking wake of former model Geetanjali Nagpal being found living off the streets in Delhi, a victim of drug abuse and alcohol addiction, BT explores what makes people from the glam world reach this sorry state.Is it stress and the inability to take fame and success that comes their way at an early age. Or something else?
Fashion photographer Akash Srivastaav, who met Geetanjali Nagpal at a party in Goa in 1997, recalls how he went up to her and said that she looked like model Ediesedwick from the Andy Warhol factory. “She had the aura of pulling you towards her. She laughed and said, ‘Though not as pretty as her.’ I was stunned that she knew what I was talking about as very few at that point had heard about Ediesedwick.”
Fashion in India was all about being pretty and angelic, then. Every model and shoot they would do were about the beautiful side of beauty. “But Geetu, as we called her, was a kind of rebel in fashion. The way she would hold her cigarette or sit, there was a sense of absolute decadence in her right from that time. We called her hateli, a term that signified headstrong, or dimag khiska, because she was wild and totally against the establishment. She didn’t care about anything or anybody. All she wanted was to be in a world of her own which didn’t follow any norm,” said Akash.
He also remembers once when he was about to shoot her, she just disappeared from the studio leaving everyone in a tizzy. Hours of searching led them to beneath a huge table inside the studio, “where madam was cozily sleeping”. Akash added, “During the years that I knew her, she never did drugs, at least not in front of me. She would occasionally drink wine. But there was an edginess in Geetu all the time. She would always say that she is intelligent and never believed in the concept of beauty.”
Delhi photographer Amir Rajpal, who shot Geetanjali Nagpal some 14 years back, remembers her as having lovely eyes, a beautiful body and a very good attitude. He can’t believe the state she is in today.
“She used to hate the sight of people smoking. How could she take to drugs herself? She was such a level-headed girl with no nakhras. God knows what went wrong, but I still can’t believe that the girl lying on a Paharganj street is her.”
Designer Rocky S doesn’t know her, but said, “When models start out early in life and get addicted to a starry life, they automatically gravitate towards destruction. The glamour world is a very high stress job, and to keep it up, at every step they resort to such abuses.” However, Manish Malhotra, who also did not know Geetanjali, refuses to believe that stress could have driven her to such measures. “The decision to ‘do it’ or ‘not do it’ is very personal. I have a lot of stress in my job too, but I don’t even smoke, so why blame it all on stress. Young models must understand that they need to look good, fresh and their job should lead them to enjoy life, not destroy it,” he advised.Textile revivalist and designer Ritu Kumar does not recollect Geetanjali’s name or face for Noyonika and Sushmita were the leading models then. But she said, “Somehow, what she resorted to seems to be the most unfortunate episodes that could happen to a good model.”
Achala Sachdev, former model and choreographer now, added, “Who knows, maybe she had a drug problem even before she entered the modelling scene. Blaming stress as the reason is so passe. Why don’t young models understand that everyone here wants to make money, fame and enjoy life. Drugs can only add on to the problems.”
Source : Geetanjali is a drug addict article on Times Of India
Biggest War Games In Bay Of Bengal Begin
Biggest War Games In Bay Of Bengal Begin
NEWSPOST India, Tuesday, 4th September, 2007
Warships from India, the US and three other nations Tuesday began the biggest war games in the Bay of Bengal, aimed at improving inter-operability between their navies, even as the Left parties staged demonstrations against the drill.
Malabar-2007, as the Sep 4-9 exercise is named, features 25 vessels participating in interception and dissimilar air combat exercises, as also surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction and VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.
Given this vast scope, the operational area of Malabar-2007 stretches from Visakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that guard the approaches to the Strait of Malacca, considered the world's busiest waterway.
The Malabar series is now in its 13th year. The drill has previously been a bilateral India-US engagement and has been expanded for the first time to also include Japan, Australia and Singapore.
Just as the war games began, veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu flagged off a protest march from Kolkata, attacking the UPA for its 'tilt' towards the US.
'The UPA government is trying to turn the country into the American fold which is against the common minimum programme on the basis of which the Left is extending support (to the government),' Basu told party workers.
'This is against the country's independent foreign policy,' he added.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his Communist Party of India (CPI) counterpart A.B. Bardhan would lead processions against the drill from Kolkata and Chennai respectively that would converge at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
The US Navy will have the largest representation during Malabar-2007 with 13 warships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz that generated much heat when it dropped anchor off Chennai in July.
The other vessels include the conventionally powered carrier USS Kitty Hawk, the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two guided-missile cruisers, and six guided-missile destroyers.
Seven warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, will represent the Indian Navy. Viraat's Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters, and the Indian Air Force's Jaguar deep-penetration strike aircraft will also be seen in action.
Australia will be represented by a frigate and a tanker, Japan by two destroyers and Singapore by a frigate.
New Delhi has repeatedly sought to allay apprehensions that the drill had military overtones.
'There is no military alignment. It's only an exercise,' Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said of Malabar-2007 that runs Sep 4-9.
'Our armed forces exercise with most of the important countries. Every year this is expanding...India's importance is growing. Almost all countries want to engage with us. It's a good thing. It's a recognition of India's prestige and reliability,' the minister maintained.
China, which has not officially commented on the drill, is known to be unhappy over the event as it is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal for the first time. China has been cultivating naval cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar to gain access to the Bay of Bengal. China has also been strengthening military cooperation with Sri Lanka.
Given the Left opposition, the Indian government was at one time known to have considered postponing or even cancelling the drill but the Indian Navy put its foot down, saying the logistics involved made any delay impossible.
Source : Biggest War Games In Bay Of Bengal Begin article on NEWSPOST India
NEWSPOST India, Tuesday, 4th September, 2007
Warships from India, the US and three other nations Tuesday began the biggest war games in the Bay of Bengal, aimed at improving inter-operability between their navies, even as the Left parties staged demonstrations against the drill.
Malabar-2007, as the Sep 4-9 exercise is named, features 25 vessels participating in interception and dissimilar air combat exercises, as also surface and anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction and VBSS (visit, board, search and seizure) operations to counter piracy and terrorist acts at sea.
Given this vast scope, the operational area of Malabar-2007 stretches from Visakhapatnam on the eastern seaboard to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that guard the approaches to the Strait of Malacca, considered the world's busiest waterway.
The Malabar series is now in its 13th year. The drill has previously been a bilateral India-US engagement and has been expanded for the first time to also include Japan, Australia and Singapore.
Just as the war games began, veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Jyoti Basu flagged off a protest march from Kolkata, attacking the UPA for its 'tilt' towards the US.
'The UPA government is trying to turn the country into the American fold which is against the common minimum programme on the basis of which the Left is extending support (to the government),' Basu told party workers.
'This is against the country's independent foreign policy,' he added.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat and his Communist Party of India (CPI) counterpart A.B. Bardhan would lead processions against the drill from Kolkata and Chennai respectively that would converge at Visakhapatnam on Saturday.
The US Navy will have the largest representation during Malabar-2007 with 13 warships, including the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz that generated much heat when it dropped anchor off Chennai in July.
The other vessels include the conventionally powered carrier USS Kitty Hawk, the nuclear submarine USS Chicago, two guided-missile cruisers, and six guided-missile destroyers.
Seven warships, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, will represent the Indian Navy. Viraat's Sea Harrier jets and Sea King helicopters, and the Indian Air Force's Jaguar deep-penetration strike aircraft will also be seen in action.
Australia will be represented by a frigate and a tanker, Japan by two destroyers and Singapore by a frigate.
New Delhi has repeatedly sought to allay apprehensions that the drill had military overtones.
'There is no military alignment. It's only an exercise,' Defence Minister A.K. Antony has said of Malabar-2007 that runs Sep 4-9.
'Our armed forces exercise with most of the important countries. Every year this is expanding...India's importance is growing. Almost all countries want to engage with us. It's a good thing. It's a recognition of India's prestige and reliability,' the minister maintained.
China, which has not officially commented on the drill, is known to be unhappy over the event as it is being conducted in the Bay of Bengal for the first time. China has been cultivating naval cooperation with Bangladesh and Myanmar to gain access to the Bay of Bengal. China has also been strengthening military cooperation with Sri Lanka.
Given the Left opposition, the Indian government was at one time known to have considered postponing or even cancelling the drill but the Indian Navy put its foot down, saying the logistics involved made any delay impossible.
Source : Biggest War Games In Bay Of Bengal Begin article on NEWSPOST India
Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record
Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record
By Chris Bryant, FT.com, September 4 2007
Eurostar recorded a record time of just over two hours on its inaugural journey on a new high speed rail line carrying trains from Paris to the refurbished St Pancras station in London.
The train, travelling at speeds of up to 202mph, took two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds to complete the Paris-London route via the Channel Tunnel, a journey which normally takes two hours and 35 minutes.
It was the first time a train had run on High Speed One, a £5.8bn British high speed rail line, which from November 14 will cut the average journey time between London and Paris by 20 minutes.
Eurostar removed food service trolleys and ran only half-full in its atemtp break to compete journey in two hours, but was thwarted by a speed restriction on the line near Calais.
When regular services from St Pancras begin in November the journey will take a more sedate two hours and15 minutes at a maximum speed of 184mph.
Eurostar hopes the time-saving will help it increase passenger numbers from 8.3m this year to 10m by 2010 and from November passengers will be able to buy through-tickets from stations in northern Britain to the continent.
“Today marks Britain’s entry into the European high-speed rail club,” Richard Brown, Eurostar chief executive, said. “We can now run trains at high speed all the way from the Channel Tunnel to London, making journeys between cities quicker, more convenient – and far greener than flying.”
Eurostar trains currently trundle through south London into Waterloo station at speeds of between 60 and 90 mph.
The new 25-mile section of high speed track allows trains to reach 140mph in tunnels to the east of the City before it emerges at St Pancras in central London, north of the Thames.
“Now the French people can finally forget Waterloo,” Guillaume Pepy, chairman of Eurostar, joked.
London and Continental Railways, the company responsible for the new line, a new £100m station at Ebbsfleet and the refurbishment of St Pancras, hopes it will lead to £10bn of investment in deprived parts of East London.
High-speed domestic services will begin in 2009 cutting the journey time between Ebbsfleet and St Pancras to 17 minutes.
During the 2012 Olympic Games the line will carry high-speed shuttle services between St Pancras and a new station at the Olympic site in Stratford.
“This project is about much more than just transporting passengers from London to the continent,” Rob Holden, LCR chief executive, said. “Its about the creation of a piece of infrastructure that will be a catalyst for the regeneration some of the most deprived areas of Britain.
Source : Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record article on FT.com
By Chris Bryant, FT.com, September 4 2007
Eurostar recorded a record time of just over two hours on its inaugural journey on a new high speed rail line carrying trains from Paris to the refurbished St Pancras station in London.The train, travelling at speeds of up to 202mph, took two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds to complete the Paris-London route via the Channel Tunnel, a journey which normally takes two hours and 35 minutes.
It was the first time a train had run on High Speed One, a £5.8bn British high speed rail line, which from November 14 will cut the average journey time between London and Paris by 20 minutes.
Eurostar removed food service trolleys and ran only half-full in its atemtp break to compete journey in two hours, but was thwarted by a speed restriction on the line near Calais.
When regular services from St Pancras begin in November the journey will take a more sedate two hours and15 minutes at a maximum speed of 184mph.
Eurostar hopes the time-saving will help it increase passenger numbers from 8.3m this year to 10m by 2010 and from November passengers will be able to buy through-tickets from stations in northern Britain to the continent.
“Today marks Britain’s entry into the European high-speed rail club,” Richard Brown, Eurostar chief executive, said. “We can now run trains at high speed all the way from the Channel Tunnel to London, making journeys between cities quicker, more convenient – and far greener than flying.”
Eurostar trains currently trundle through south London into Waterloo station at speeds of between 60 and 90 mph.The new 25-mile section of high speed track allows trains to reach 140mph in tunnels to the east of the City before it emerges at St Pancras in central London, north of the Thames.
“Now the French people can finally forget Waterloo,” Guillaume Pepy, chairman of Eurostar, joked.
London and Continental Railways, the company responsible for the new line, a new £100m station at Ebbsfleet and the refurbishment of St Pancras, hopes it will lead to £10bn of investment in deprived parts of East London.
High-speed domestic services will begin in 2009 cutting the journey time between Ebbsfleet and St Pancras to 17 minutes.
During the 2012 Olympic Games the line will carry high-speed shuttle services between St Pancras and a new station at the Olympic site in Stratford.
“This project is about much more than just transporting passengers from London to the continent,” Rob Holden, LCR chief executive, said. “Its about the creation of a piece of infrastructure that will be a catalyst for the regeneration some of the most deprived areas of Britain.
Source : Eurostar sets Paris-London rail record article on FT.com
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