# Inside the abandoned Eurostar trains...



## caravanman (Sep 12, 2018)

Interesting video showing the fate of some Eurostar "stars"...

Strange economics to just abandon them ?

https://youtu.be/U2NnDn0KmUw

Ed


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## jis (Sep 12, 2018)

They are being sold for scrap, in general.


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 12, 2018)

The decision may not be in the best interests for society as a whole, but it presumably makes simple economic sense for the operator. For instance, they don't have to worry about a competitor scooping them up and refurbishing the interiors in order to compete on price with an already approved design.


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## railiner (Sep 12, 2018)

I rode one of them back in '98 when they were almost new...still have a cup and saucer the first class attendant gave me in my collection.


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## caravanman (Sep 13, 2018)

jis said:


> They are being sold for scrap, in general.


Indeed, just wondered why the two exceptions in the video were being left to rot...

Ed.


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## cirdan (Sep 13, 2018)

It's not that uncommon actually for individual examples of withdrawn classes to be retained a little longer.

In some cases because there may be a speculative plan to use them for something, which them tyxpically never comes to fruition.

Departmental use for example, or maybe even returned to passenger service for some reason.

Maybe even a preservation bid of some sort.

Or just something like a one -ime use in a fire brigade or rescue exercise for a simulated crash.

You might not want to use a normal train for that because the extrercise might involve actually setting fire to it, or curring holes in the sides of the carriages.

But after a couple of years of being left to the elements and to the vandals, that option becomes unviable.


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## Devil's Advocate (Sep 13, 2018)

caravanman said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > They are being sold for scrap, in general.
> ...


I suppose it could be an unexpected failure at an inopportune location but it's hard to know without more information. Scrapping companies generally operate on slim margins and scrapping schedules are sometimes adjusted because of market changes and pricing pressures. If a given design is made of materials that are not as desirable as some other recycling process then the less desirable material will be sidelined to make way for other more profitable recycling tasks. If the value of the depressed material does not rebound relative to other recycling tasks a defunct conveyance may end up sitting around for years slowly wasting away.


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