Cache is near the High Speed Rail Link. High Speed 1 (HS1), officially known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) and originally as the Union Railway or Continental Main Line (CML), is a 108-kilometre (67 mi) high-speed railway between London and the UK end of the Channel Tunnel, through Kent.
The line was built to carry international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and Continental Europe; additionally it carries domestic passenger traffic to and from towns and cities in Kent, and has the potential to carry Berne gauge freight traffic. The line, crossing over the River Medway and underneath the River Thames to London St Pancras railway station, opened in full on 14 November 2007. It allows speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph) on section 1 and up to 225 kilometres per hour (140 mph) on section 2, and cost £5.8 billion to build. There are intermediate stations at Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International.
International passengers can travel from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes, and St Pancras to Brussels-South in 1 hour 51 minutes, using a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of 300 kilometres per hour (186 mph).
Domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains are permitted to reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour (140 mph). There are regular freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time.
The CTRL project encompassed many new bridges and tunnels with a combined length nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself. During construction of the CTRL, significant archaeological research was undertaken. In 2002, the CTRL project was awarded the "Major Project Award" at the British Construction Industry Awards. The CTRL has seen periods of financial difficulty, and the line was transferred to government ownership in 2009, with a 30-year concession for its operation being put up for sale in June 2010.