What systems (TOPS equivalent) do Eurostar use?

[MboroFC]

I'm looking for a couple of allocations for Eurostar services. If there's anyone that can help with that please let me know. But out of interest anyway, what TOPS equivalent do Eurostar use for their services?

Thanks

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I think on the English side they will be using TOPS, not sure if they still do but they definitely would have when they used to run into Waterloo.

 

[800002]

Yes,
Anything which operates on the 'national' rail network requires an entry in TOPS / Trust.

As for what they use once their past the frontier,i don't know I'm afraid.

 

[MboroFC]

Thanks both.

 

[StephenHunter]

Yes,
Anything which operates on the 'national' rail network requires an entry in TOPS / Trust.

As for what they use once their past the frontier,i don't know I'm afraid.

They have the European Vehicle Numbers on the side of each carriage. The units also have the last four digits of their TOPS number on each end.

 

[800002]

They have the European Vehicle Numbers on the side of each carriage. The units also have the last four digits of their TOPS number on each end.

I was thinking more of the program / system used for recording such information and for train movement recording.

 

[43096]

Yes,
Anything which operates on the 'national' rail network requires an entry in TOPS / Trust.

The master system for anything running on the railway system in terms of vehicle registrations is R2, not TOPS.

 

[50002Superb]

But am I right in thinking that TOPS does not confirm which Eurostar is working which diagram?

Similar to the London Overground units.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 4 Jun 2026 ==

Yes,
Anything which operates on the 'national' rail network requires an entry in TOPS / Trust.

As for what they use once their past the frontier,i don't know I'm afraid.

Why isn’t that applied to London Overground units? Or is it?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Talking of Eurostar, if there's anyone at St Pancras at the moment - would they be able to see what the 11.30 arrival from Paris ( 9O19 ) is today?

Should be a 373 - I have a friend travelling from Bruxelles later on the return of its next working and he's wondering if it might have 3999 at one end of it...

 

[Wigan Wanderer]

Talking of Eurostar, if there's anyone at St Pancras at the moment - would they be able to see what the 11.30 arrival from Paris ( 9O19 ) is today?

Should be a 373 - I have a friend travelling from Bruxelles later on the return of its next working and he's wondering if it might have 3999 at one end of it...

Confirmed 17.56 Brussels - St Pan today has power cars 3999 and 3219.

 

[Adrian Barr]

But am I right in thinking that TOPS does not confirm which Eurostar is working which diagram?

Similar to the London Overground units.

I'd never noticed that but yes.

The Eurostar schedules have no "consist" or unit info entered, and neither do the Overground services by the looks of it.

Normally in TRUST, freight trains pull the consist info from TOPS, while passenger trains take their info from GENIUS / GEMINI (or whatever equivalent systems have come into use in the TOCs over the years).

Charter trains are still generally consisted using an older system called POIS (Passenger Operations Information System) which was effectively an expansion of TOPS to include passenger trains.

Channel tunnel freight trains hauled by 92s are consisted in TRUST / TOPS (between Dollands Moor and Frethun, and also on HS1) but the Eurotunnel shuttles are not.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Eurostar units are visible on a system used by Eurotunnel which also includes their shuttles. Wikipedia mentions a system called RTM (Rail Traffic Management) so I wonder if that's a bespoke system which also covers the typical functions of TRUST / TOPS for Eurotunnel?

One difference is that despite the schedules not being consisted on TOPS, the actual Eurostar units (at least the class 374s) and Overground trains do exist as vehicles in TOPS while Eurotunnel shuttles don't (or at least I don't think they do). Overground units do get consisted in TRUST occasionally, such as when the 378s visit Widnes or Ilford for refurbishment.

There's a Network Rail PDF titled "Network Rail Catalogue of Railway Code Systems" which has a bit more info on railway computer systems used on the national network - should be easy to find with a search.

 

[50002Superb]

I'd never noticed that but yes.

The Eurostar schedules have no "consist" or unit info entered, and neither do the Overground services by the looks of it.

Normally in TRUST, freight trains pull the consist info from TOPS, while passenger trains take their info from GENIUS / GEMINI (or whatever equivalent systems have come into use in the TOCs over the years).

Charter trains are still generally consisted using an older system called POIS (Passenger Operations Information System) which was effectively an expansion of TOPS to include passenger trains.

Channel tunnel freight trains hauled by 92s are consisted in TRUST / TOPS (between Dollands Moor and Frethun, and also on HS1) but the Eurotunnel shuttles are not.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Eurostar units are visible on a system used by Eurotunnel which also includes their shuttles. Wikipedia mentions a system called RTM (Rail Traffic Management) so I wonder if that's a bespoke system which also covers the typical functions of TRUST / TOPS for Eurotunnel?

One difference is that despite the schedules not being consisted on TOPS, the actual Eurostar units (at least the class 374s) and Overground trains do exist as vehicles in TOPS while Eurotunnel shuttles don't (or at least I don't think they do). Overground units do get consisted in TRUST occasionally, such as when the 378s visit Widnes or Ilford for refurbishment.

There's a Network Rail PDF titled "Network Rail Catalogue of Railway Code Systems" which has a bit more info on railway computer systems used on the national network - should be easy to find with a search.

Thanks for confirming/clarifying Adrian.

I knew I wasn’t going mad @MboroFC !!

 

[MboroFC]

Great read, thank you lot for explaining. I was looking for a couple of allocations to go along with my question but seeing as they use their own bespoke system I doubt anyone could get those for me .