Yeah, but British long-term thinking rears it's head again: there was apparently no way to run the train that had just gone under the sea through the other side of London. Even now, the HS1 line that links London to the continent is separated from the new HS2 line that leads up to the Midlands, Northern England, Wales and Scotland by a gap of a about 500 meters which is apparently insurmountable.

In Manchester, there was a huge building constructed as a maintenance depot for the Eurostar and Nightstar trains that even had "Eurostar habite ici" printed on the side in massive text. Seeing that brand new building slowly fade and rot, unused, over the years has been super inspiring, I can tell you.