Eurostar set a new Paris-to-London rail speed record of just over two hours yesterday with the first train to use Britain's long-awaited high speed track at over 186 mph.

The service carrying journalists and officials from Paris made its inaugural run down 68 miles of British track known as High Speed 1 and arrived for the first time at St Pancras International rather than the existing Waterloo terminus.

The journey time was two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds, compared with the usual two hours 35 minutes.

The official switch to St Pancras takes place on November 14, and the station will eventually link with the site of the 2012 Olympics at Stratford in east London.

Eurostar stripped out food trolleys and ran the train half full to save weight on its record attempt. Within 20 minutes of leaving, the train had clocked 192 mph, according to the GPS navigating device of one journalist on board.

Eurostar carried its first passengers in 1994 after the delayed opening of the Lm4.8 billion Channel Tunnel.

But while trains have cruised across France on the high speed track at up to 186 mph, they have been forced to throttle back on the British side where they mingle with commuter services heading in and out of London.

"The High Speed 1 timetable will for the first time enable UK business travellers to reach the centres of Paris and Brussels before 9 a.m., ready for a full day's work," Eurostar chief executive officer Richard Brown told people at a reception in Paris late on Monday.

"Leisure passengers will benefit from later evening departures, allowing them to stay later on their visits," he added.

Eurostar's faster service arrives at a time of booming demand for rail travel in Britain after a series of foiled terrorist attacks have led to tighter security and delays at UK airports.

Eurostar also says it has been helped by people switching from plane to train due to concerns about the environment.

Environmental statistics put the CO2 impact of aviation anywhere between four and 10 times that of rail on short-haul journeys.

"Eurostar will offset CO2 emissions that it cannot eliminate... making it the first train company in the world to offer carbon neutral journeys," said Mr Brown.

Eurostar services are handled by France's SNCF railway and Belgium's SNCB on their own territory.

On the British side this is done by the ICRR consortium, comprising National Express plc, SNCF, SNCB and British Airways plc.