Eurostar e300

The Eurostar e300, based on the French TGV high-speed trainset and originally built as the Class 373, entered service in 1994 to operate the newly opened Channel Tunnel passenger route linking London with Paris and Brussels. Adapted from its TGV parentage with a narrower structure gauge to clear British and tunnel loading limits, plus additional safety and signaling equipment for cross-Channel and multi-country operation, it became the first high-speed trainset to run scheduled international passenger service through an undersea tunnel. The e300 sets carried the bulk of Eurostar cross-Channel traffic for two decades before newer generations of Eurostar equipment began to take over the busiest routes.