Opened in 1994, the 31-mile long Channel Tunnel (informally, the Chunnel) under the English Channel is traversed 15 times daily by Eurostar’s non-stop high-speed rail service between two of the world’s great cities, Paris and London.

A northbound journey begins at Paris’ Gare du Nord which sits close to Gare de l’Est in the 10th arrondissement of the French capital. The station, the busiest in Europe, is served by the Metro, commuter rail, intercity and high-speed rail services operated by TGV and Eurostar.

Eurostar itself links London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels in its network, using primarily multi-unit Siemens Velaro e320 trains, a nod to their 320 km/h or 200 mph top speed. 

My journey to London aboard Eurostar began with a passport and security check on the mezzanine level of the station, which is dedicated to UK-bound Eurostar passengers. It is here that one technically exits France and enters the UK. The platforms for Track 2 through Track 6 are fenced off and can only be accessed from the mezzanine area.

Tickets, easily purchased from Eurostar’s website, can be downloaded onto your smartphone wallet for quick access. The site advised a 45-60 minute pre-departure check-in in order to complete immigration and security formalities. On my date of travel, this left me with 40 minutes to kill in the departure area.

Business Premier passengers have access to a lounge while the rest of us Standard and Standard Premier class passengers simply occupy the gate area, which is a bit too small for our 16-coach train set, capable of carrying several-hundred passengers.

Having been scanned into the departure area, the gate was simply opened and we were thrust onto the platform for the short trek to Coach 5 where Seat 61 awaited me.

Standard, Standard Premier (which offers extra-legroom seats, a light meal and extra baggage) and Business Premier classes will be renamed Eurostar Standard, Eurostar Plus and Eurostar Premier beginning on 4 November.

Configured 2-2, Standard class seats aboard the e320s are comfortable with excellent legroom and extendable footrests.

A wide and sturdy tray table perfectly facilitates work. Expect one EU- and one UK-style plug for each seat pair. Wi-Fi on board was free but painfully slow. My own cell phone connection did about as good of a job.

The seats themselves are a curious affair. An extremely tall design means that the winged part of the headrest was actually above the head of my 5ft 11-inch frame.

The recline is also unique with the seat base sliding forward and the bottom two-thirds of the seatback sliding down and forward to create the recline (somewhat akin to many premium economy seats on airlines). I found the mechanism to be quite comfortable for this journey.

As with my day earlier TGV Ouigo high-speed rail ride, wheelchair accessibility requires the help of platform staff and a ramp, though once on board, there are no visible obstacles.

The accessible lavatory was clean and functional while the single-deck interior felt spacious. The overhead luggage racks comfortably fit my carry-on bag. As a result the racks for larger bags remained half full for our 2hr 18min ride to London. 

Departure was on time and I was pleased with the smooth and silent performance of the train. Heading north on LGV-Nord, we quickly set our sights on Lille, where the rail lines from London, Paris and Brussels form a triangular junction.

Non-stop services, like ours, bypass the city’s Lille-Europe station through a 125 mph tunnel. Past Lille we sped toward the heavily fortified border area of Calais where trucks and cars are loaded on LeShuttle, the rolling road train service that connects the French and British road networks.

Thereafter, we quickly plunged underground toward our underwater crossing limited to the Chunnel speed of 100 mph. Eighteen minutes later, we emerged into some atypical and brilliant British sunshine, now riding on HS1, the nation’s first and, until the launch of HS2, only high-speed line that directs trains toward London’s St. Pancras station.

For the thirsty or peckish, two bar cars are spread across the train serving snacks and drinks. While I did not partake, there was a large crowd enjoying drinks as we zoomed northward. There is no at-seat service in Standard class.

Dotted around the cabin are ceiling-mounted screens that, oddly, showed nothing apart from the Eurostar logo, clock and coach number. This feels like a  missed opportunity with so much real estate available to highlight information like speed and arrival estimates, and perhaps even some destination information.

After crossing the English Channel, the clock switched to the UK’s hour-behind time, while the bilingual onboard announcements switched their sequence from French first to English first. 

We arrived into London St. Pancras on-time after an uneventful journey. And, after filing through customs, I found myself in central London with access to several commuter and London Underground lines, some shared with the adjacent King’s Cross station.

Euston, another major intercity station, is a short walk to the west. The entire journey was smooth, quiet and good value at $73. This journey between two well-connected city railway stations makes exchanging French coffee for English tea as easy as can be.

Related Articles:

• New train price tracker brings aviation comparison tools to Eurostar
• Ouigo high-speed rail proves fuss-free on Paris-Bordeaux
• Luxurious first class outweighs service flaws on TransPennine Express
• How UK rail operators can elevate their first class product
• Eurostar Standard Premier mostly delivers on premium promise

All images credited to Karun Mukhi