speed channel

Eurostar will bid to set another record for train travel when the inaugural service between Brussels and London St Pancras is expected to break the two hour barrier for the first time.

An 18-coach train will travel at speeds of up to 186mph on the new ￡5.8 billion dedicated high-speed route, which runs for 68 miles from the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone in Kent into central London.

The 232-mile journey from Brussels Midi station to the newly-refurbished St Pancras International terminus is expected to take one hour and 51 minutes, shaving 20 minutes off the current journey time to London Waterloo.

Invited guests and the media will be on board the train, which will mark the latest stage in a big change in Eurostar services.

From November 14, all Eurostar services to France and Belgium will use the new high-speed link, which runs in tunnels for much of its route out of London from St Pancras station.

The line from London to the coast is finally opening 13 years after the Channel Tunnel, enabling Eurostar services to stop sharing busy commuter lines through Kent.

Richard Brown, chief executive of Eurostar said: "The aim of today's inaugural service is to put London to Brussels firmly within the two hour club and to demonstrate that Eurostar is the fastest, most convenient way of travelling between the two cities."

Eurostar set a new record of just over two hours for train travel between Paris and London earlier this month using the new line.

Services between St Pancras and the French capital will take two hours 15 minutes from November 14, when Eurostar switches from London Waterloo.

The new service will take 20 minutes less than the Waterloo to Paris service and 15 minutes less than the train service from London to Liverpool or Preston. At one hour and 51 minutes, the non-stop service to Brussels will take 30 minutes less than St Pancras to Sheffield, 35 minutes less than Kings Cross to Leeds and 20 minutes less than London Euston to Manchester