Eurostar’s new £400 million UK depot, the Eurostar Engineering Centre Temple Mills was officially opened by Tom Harris MP. The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport on 2 October 2007, at the invitation of Eurostar Chief Executive Officer Richard Brown.

Located in Leyton, close to Stratford International station in East London, the facility will replace the original Eurostar depot at North Pole from 14 November 2007 when the passenger service is transferred from Waterloo International to St pancreas International and the entire length of HS1 is opened.

The Temple Mills facility, located adjacent to the now closed Temple Mills EWS depot has a main single ended shed with eight 400m long roads, each capable of housing a full Three Capitals Eurostar set. With all maintenance work now possible under one roof, the previous need to split Eurostar sets into half sections will no longer be required. The main shed building is 435m long, 54m wide and has a roof height of12m

Each of the roads in the depot is provided with overhead power equipment, which will normally be changed at 25kV ac, however for full unit testing this equipment can be set road by road to provide 1,500V or 3,000V if needed. The overhead in six of the roads is of the pull back type enabling full roof access to train sets. No provision is made for 750V dc third rail operation, and this equipment will be removed from all sets in mid-November. The facility is fitted with the very latest fail-safe protection system, with staff using swipe cards and PIN numbers to show their working positions within the depot.

Adjacent to the main shed building is a heavy repair building with a drop pit, wheel lathe and overhead cranes capable of removing transformers from powercars. A bi-directional washing plant (using re-cycled water) is installed through which all sets will pass on arriving at the depot. A twin track toilet emptying apron is provided.

The new depot, fully funded by Government has been built on time and on schedule. The depot was designed by architect Anthony Leslie and built by Union Railways. In the last month the site has seen one or two Eurostar sets being used for drivers route training on HS1, plus half set No. 3308, one of the units originally built for North of London services.

The first train to have a full maintenance exam at the new depot is due to arrive on Monday 8 October. From the second week of November sets will start to be transferred from North Pole.

A number of stabling sidings are provided within the depot, which has a total of 10 miles of track.

From the full opening of HS1 and the new depot, Eurostar will no longer have the need for the remaining three Class 37/6 locomotives and two Class 73s. The ‘37/6s’ will be taken over by Direct Rail Services, while the Class 73s will pass to RailSchool in North Woolwich and the Barry Railway. Depot pilotage at Temple Mills will be provided by Class 08 No. 08948.