Eurostar E300 replacements?

Sorcerer said:

Interesting. In that case I'd be quite interested in potential options seeing as Alstom's high-speed fleet these days is mostly double decker TGV trains. The AGV is single decker but seems like a concept that is mostly done with, and the Pendolino, be it tilt or non-tilt, isn't built to go above 250km/h, and such a reduction in speed isn't something Eurostar will want to go for with any E300 replacements.

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From what I remember, they were looking to build a new single decker platform, the Zefiro, but then the EU competition commission ruled that they needed to sell off the platform, as they had acquired Bombardier. So despite having Japanese name plates, the Zefiro is a very French train. I travelled on one of the Ferricorossa sets last year, and it was rather comfortable and had a decent ride quality for non-articulated stock.

Yew said:

From what I remember, they were looking to build a new single decker platform, the Zefiro, but then the EU competition commission ruled that they needed to sell off the platform, as they had acquired Bombardier. So despite having Japanese name plates, the Zefiro is a very French train. I travelled on one of the Ferricorossa sets last year, and it was rather comfortable and had a decent ride quality for non-articulated stock.

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I always took the Zefiro to be an Italian platform despite Japanese nameplates just because of the Frecciarossa being operated by Trenitalia and the former AnsaldoBreda being an Italian company. I too rode on the ETR 1000 last year as well and it was a very high quality product that I am glad is being used as a basis for the HS2 fleet. An enhanced Zefiro fleet would be a good choice on Eurostar in my opinion, but I am not quite sure how likely it would be. At the very least an off-the-shelf design can be purchased since HS1 is compatible with European standards.

Yew said:

From what I remember, they were looking to build a new single decker platform, the Zefiro, but then the EU competition commission ruled that they needed to sell off the platform, as they had acquired Bombardier. So despite having Japanese name plates, the Zefiro is a very French train. I travelled on one of the Ferricorossa sets last year, and it was rather comfortable and had a decent ride quality for non-articulated stock.

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What an interesting comment, "for non-articulated stock".

All of the smoothest trains I've ever been on were non-articulated, while some of the absolute worst were articulated.