Rail engineers rejoice as the glorious era of rail travel could return --

PARIS: When Eurostar train No. 9024 arrived at the Gare du Nord in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, it had traveled the 490 kilometers from London in two hours and 20 minutes. That was only five minutes slower than the scheduled time for the new high-speed service connecting the Paris station and St. Pancras, the spectacularly restored station in London that has supplanted Waterloo as the Eurostar terminus in London.