208 Mph.

As a brief respite from the doom and gloom enveloping Britains railways, a Eurostar train has reached the speed of 208 miles an hour on a test run the new yet-to-be opened Channel Tunnel Rail Link, thus setting the British rail speed record. It joins City of Truro, Mallard, the prototype High Speed Train and the ill-fated Advanced Passenger Train in the record books.

Not that we're beating the world on speed now; the French hold the record of 320 mph, set by a TGV, on whose design the Eurostar is based.