This is probably one of the most famous trains: The Eurostar running from Paris and Brussels to London via the Eurotunnel. What only few might know, that this is also a TGV train, namly the TGV-TMST ('TransManche-Super-Train')!

It was the 6th May 1994, when Queen Elisabeth II and the Frech President François Mitterand inaugurated the Eurotunnel and on the 14th November the first services of the Eurostar from Paris to London could begin.
So after the agreement of the construction of this project on the 27th July 1987 and the TGV-TMST's first test runs in May 1993, a long-awaited dream came true. And nowadays, the Eurostar trains are not only limited to services from London to Paris and Brussels, but do also run seasonally to for example Bourg St. Maurice in the french Alps or Marseille. Due to this, nine units were especially equipped for being able to run with 1.5kV direct current.

Although the TGV-TMST reaches a maximum speed of 300 km/h on LGV lines, the speed restriction of 160 km/h in the Tunnel between Calais (F) and Ashford (GB) has also to be respected by it. High demands concerning fire safety and the interoperability of the train in France, Belgium and Great Britain made this TGV the most expensive one ever: 32 million Euro for one TMST!

One unit consisting of up to 18 carriages are driven by two powercars, though one has to mention that, similar to the TGV-PSE, the following carriage's bogie behind every powercar is also motorized. Furthermore, one TMST is actually a train formed by two TGV trains (the reason why every train has two numbers, e.g. 3201/02) which are coupled to each other in the middle and thus the two carriages there do not "share" one bogie - unusual concerning the specific technology of the articulated-trainset characterizing all TGV trains. Regarding the lenght, one TMST is comparable to a TGV double unit.
This peculiarity of the 'two half-trains' is a result of the regulation demanding the possibility of disconnecting the TMST in case of emergeny and its high power is meant to ensure that one powercar can still pull the whole train out of the tunnel even if the other one is broken down.

Another specific item of the TGV-TMST are its pickups for the third rail power supply in Britan (750V), which can be found at each side of the powercars. But its usage can soon be over, because after having completed the first, 80 km long section of the CTRL highspeed line (Channel Tunnel Rail Link) in Britain during the year 2003, the rest of the track, which is similar to the French LGV ones, will be finished probably by 2007. Then the travelling time from London to Paris (2h 35) and Brussels (2h 15) now, will be 10 minutes shorter.

The TGV-TMST is not only operated by Eurostar International, the French Railways SNCF do also own some so-called 'Ex-Eurostars' for their TGV services, with another livery. And the British company GNER also used TMST trains for its lines till the end of the year 2005.
All TGV-TMST being in service for Eurostar International have received a renovation of their interior from September 2004 till October 2005, so the amount of seats is now maximum 750 instead of 794 before. And one has also thought of the crew: All Eurostar staff members, from the traindriver to the train managers, do received new uniforms.

(4 dr. axes on each powercar + 2 on the following coach)