Kent High-speed

[donjgatlin]

From RSC

One of our major releases in 2013 is Kent High Speed from London St Pancras to Faversham, via Ebbsfleet. The line connects London and the Channel Tunnel at Folkestone, Kent, and was originally built to carry international passengers from Continental Europe to the UK. In late 2009, Southeastern began operating domestic services partially on Kent High Speed from London to the Kent Coast, significantly reducing travel time into the capital. This new route for Train Simulator will depict the route from London St Pancras to Ebbsfleet and on to Faversham. Included with the route is the Class 395 in Southeastern livery and highly detailed depictions of the route's stations. Our development team has recently been photographing and measuring the Class 395 in preparation for building the model and we will soon be giving you an insight into the visit through our Blog, http://www.engine-driver.com

I hope to see details soon about there route. I'm very excited about this release. The class 395 has to be one of the finest trains in the country by looks, sound, and acceleration. Hopefully RSC will be able to accurately recreate the sounds with this emu as its a very unique thing to hear, IMO. Great decision, ready to play already.

[donjgatlin]

Over on Engine-Driver blog, a few images from the Hitachi depot for the Class 395's have appeared. The blog post provides a little information into who and how the sounds are achieved for the game.

[BNSFdude]

Ah yes! Adam is a good guy. You'll be amazed at how well put the 395 is when it comes out, I don't even know yet. He's taught me a few techniques I hope to utilize in future sound packs.

[donjgatlin]

Since some of our North American fans seem to be a bit reluctant to post here, perhaps I should give you all some information to learn a bit about the route and train's used. I have gathered some useful information about the key features on the route to help some of you become a bit more familiar with the line.

The route that is being depicted is known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), or it's nickname, High-Speed One. RSC will not be making the full length of HS1, but rather the portion of it that the Class 395 high-speed emu travels on. The route starts in London at the famous St. Pancras International station. Why is it an international station, you might ask? Well, this station as well as others on HS1, serve Eurostar Services from London to Paris. Unfortunately, at the time being it appears that the Class 373 (Eurostar 16-18 car TGV) will not be created for the route. The route will being at St. Pancras international where it will call it: St. Pancras International, Stratford International (No Eurostar Services stop here despite the int'l name), Ebbsfleet International, and onward to Kent. Details haven't been released yet other than the brief paragraph on the December announcements, so I'm not sure whether or not the line will continue to Ashford International, where the 395 Hitachi Depot is- hopefully it will. It is important to note that there are no track-side signals on this route outside of the remaining signals at St. Pancras on HS1, but there are on the line to Kent once leaving HS1. TVM 430 (used on TGV's) are featured control/signalling systems on both the Class 395 and 373. A unique feature about both units is they can use both overhead wires or a third rail (or at least the 373 use to to get into London). While the 373 no long has to use third rails, the Class 395 does on it's way to Kent after leaving HS1. Overhead wires are 25Kv and the third rails used are 750Volts. While the Eurostar appears to deal with the very steep gradients on the line very well from what I have seen or read, the Class 395 is a bit under-powered for the grades. It has about 16HP per ton, 2 more HP per ton than the 390, the difference being the 390 doesn't have to deal with such steep gradients. However, the 395 is still the most powerful EMU in the UK.

Here are a few pictures of the high-speed units/trainsets used on the line.
Hitachi Class 395- Top Speed: 225KPH/140MPH- 6 Car sets, 4 center cars powered (4,500HP total)



GEC Alstom Class 373 Eurostar (TGV Class)-Top Speed 300KPH/186MPH - 16-18 Cars, 2 power cars (16,000HP total)

[thebigroyboyski]

Just to avoid confusion the class 373s are known as Eurostars and not TGVs.
They are technically very similar and numbered as French TGVs but have never been called that, in the UK anyway.
I don't know if I would find the route too interesting to drive or not, the real life route is pretty dull to look at.
The only thing I found impressive is when your driving down the motorway next to the line at 70mph and a Eurostar overtakes you going well over 100mph faster.

[Chacal]

Gotta give it to the Europeans and Japanese - they know how to design a cab. You must feel like a king in there.

[donjgatlin]

Just to avoid confusion the class 373s are known as Eurostars and not TGVs.
They are technically very similar and numbered as French TGVs but have never been called that, in the UK anyway.
I don't know if I would find the route too interesting to drive or not, the real life route is pretty dull to look at.
The only thing I found impressive is when your driving down the motorway next to the line at 70mph and a Eurostar overtakes you going well over 100mph faster.

I think the Medway Viaduct and the hills they must climb on the route are what makes the route most impressive. You don't see these kinds of hills anywhere but on high-speed railways. I've always wondered if the passengers ever get the roller coaster feeling when riding on these things.

[arizonachris]

The only thing I found impressive is when your driving down the motorway next to the line at 70mph and a Eurostar overtakes you going well over 100mph faster.

I can't count how many times I have driven to San Diego on the 5 Interstate, stuck in traffic, and the San Diegan just blew past on the tracks. It's not high speed rail by any means, but I would think "why the heck didn't I just take the darn train?" Californians like their cars, I guess.

[donjgatlin]

Here are a few of the travel times associated with the route. The line runs from St. Pancras Int't to Faversham. Have a look.

[Boldri]

I second that. I'm still a bit disappointed with the length of Munich route.

This line is only one from all UK routes I'm interested in to buy, but this short part isn't so promising for me.
Why isn't the Channel tunnel included? It can widen the possibilities for more interesting scenarios.
I'd rather see this route as London - Calais with both the Class 395 and 373, and also the Eurotunnel Shuttle auto train.

[donjgatlin]

Still no news. I'm also a bit dissapointed to learn that the 395's are pretty much mute of traction sounds in the cab and DVT's. After watching videos recorded from the 4 middle coaches I was really excited that it might actually sound like that in the game, but as it turns out, the cabs/DVT's just hear the wheels on the rails. Here is a video. You can note the differences in the traction motors being heard and not. It's a shame, really that Hitachi didn't make all the cars powered. The sound the 395's make while accelerating and decelerating is just an awesome thing to hear!
First Car/DVT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ0a5jr9xg8f
One of the four powered cars in the middle of the train:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QVlSiKCAgw

[thebigroyboyski]

I'd say the majority of multiple units here in the uk are powered through a middle coach.
All the units which run locally to me, mostly 380s are like this. The coach with the pantograph is the powered unit. It does make for a very quiet journey. I'm not sure about units that are powered by 3rd rail though as they are only used in the London and SE part of the UK and local services in Liverpool so I don't get to travel on them.

[ex-railwayman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ0a5jr9xg8f

A superb video which amply demonstrates why this route should never have been thought of to be represented in this game, concrete, concrete, concrete, tunnels and sound screen barriers, and about 20% scenery content to look at, that won't take them long to build, will it? No provision for freight trains, or, local passenger stoppers, just a linear a-b route with nothing to look at for 80% of the time, such a horror show, this needs to be shown to Mr. Jackson with the question, are you really going to charge Railworks customers £24.99 for this, it's a disaster, the only redeeming feature is that we have some Eddie Stobart lorries in the game that we can place as authentic scenery objects.......

Cheerz. ex-railwayman.

[buzz456]

If ya don't like it don't buy it.

[donjgatlin]

http://www.engine-driver.com/2013/01/kenthighspeed.html
Even though it's very quick, here is a video I found that pretty much shows the sharp contrast between the high-speed and the traditional route. Pay attention at 1:02, it's where the lines join.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAE7oUjslaE