
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 15, 1994                   TAG: 9411150114
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PARIS                                  LENGTH: Short

CHUNNEL DELIGHTS 1ST RIDERS

Shaking off most of the glitches that plagued trial runs, all but one high-speed train rolled on schedule Monday on the first day of regular passenger service linking Paris, London and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel.

The Eurostar trains unloaded passengers delighted by the comfort and convenience of a trip slashed to scarcely three hours. One of the inaugural trains came in four minutes ahead of schedule.

``I'm afraid to fly, so this is great,'' said Mara Roth, 34, of New York, who took the train from Paris to London.

The precision performances, after years of cost overruns and delays for the $16 billion project, had immediate benefits for Eurotunnel, the Anglo-French consortium that operates the undersea tunnel. Its shares on the Paris stock exchange surged 8.1 percent in heavy trading of more than 3.7 million shares.

Cabin attendants in yellow and blue uniforms designed by Pierre Balmain staffed the trains. Meals were served to first-class passengers, with Monday morning's fare a Franco-British mix of croissants, bread, ham, cheese and orange marmalade.

First-class passengers pay the equivalent of $308 for round-trip passage; those in second class pay $248. The prices are comparable to the air fare between Paris and London.

by CNB