Although I feel nostalgic about crossing the English Channel by ferry _ on my first trip to Europe many decades ago, I saw the white cliffs of Dover from a ferry deck _ I finally rode the Chunnel train this past summer. Friends who had made the journey from Paris to London _ 31 miles underwater and 269 miles on land _ touted it for the ease of transportation. No more need for seasickness pills or patches on the notoriously rough Channel crossing, they said. No more tiresome, costly bus trips to and from the airports in Paris and London. And a major selling point is that the fastest Eurostar train trip, if all works well, takes 3 hours and 1 minute. Although the Paris-London flight is only one hour, an hour's bus ride to Orly or DeGaulle Airport, with check-in time an hour before the flight, followed by a 45-minute bus ride from Heathrow to the center of London, means that going by air would _ at best _ take 4 hours. The shortest rail-ferry trip is 7 hours. If I traveled through the Chunnel by Eurostar, I could have most of the morning in Paris and only have to be at the centrally located Gare du Nord 20 minutes before Eurostar's 12:12 p.m. departure. So I lolled about over croissants and coffee at the Hotel Le Colbert near Notre Dame. Then I strolled on the Boulevard St. Germain, watched florists setting out bouquets and shopkeepers washing down their sidewalks. I peered in bookshop windows on side streets and had a last Parisian hairdo. After that, I took the Metro to the Gare du Nord and took the escalator to the Eurostar departure area. The 18-car Eurostars, a joint venture of the French and Belgian National Railroads and British Railways, carry up to 796 passengers, and there was already a considerable line waiting to pass through security. Waiting-area space seemed crowded and there was assorted mumbling about French inefficiency and the trains not being "worth the hassle." (French National Railroads admits that there are inadequacies at the station but says it prefers investing in quality trains and tracks at the moment. There are more trains on order, with plans for 12 round trips a day starting in early January and up to 15 a day during the summer. By the anniversary of the first year of operation, last Nov. 14, about 2.5-million passengers had ridden through the Chunnel.) Eurostar hosts in pert uniforms passed out schedules, examined tickets and tried to direct passengers through security. X-ray luggage examination was on a selective basis, and there was no check for identity documents. The British, most of whom have never been overwhelmingly happy about the Channel Tunnel, have, since its opening last year, several times called its security precautions too lax. There was crowding again on the escalator to the train tracks; for those with sizable amounts of luggage, that was a problem. Passengers had to carry their own bags to the baggage car. By the time I reached it with mine, it was full, so the attendant in my car took charge of stowing it in the rack over my seat. The first-class car in which I was traveling had a row of single seats on one side of the aisle, double on the other. All seats in both classes have tables _ either in permanent position or fold-down airline style. As the train began to head out of Paris, the train "manager" introduced himself as Richard over a PA system, and announced that arrival time in London's Waterloo Station would be 2:13 p.m. London time (English time is an hour earlier than Continental time.) My seat was opposite a Connecticut couple who couldn't get over the difference between Eurostar and Amtrak. As we hurtled through green French countryside at 186 mph, edging canals and red-roofed white houses, they expressed amazement at the smoothness and quietness of the ride. In first class, luncheon, including champagne and wine, was served at each seat _ with the menu choices grilled fresh tuna or roast lamb, preceded by a vegetable terrine and concluded with a mango and kiwi Bavarian cream. In second class, in a stylish modern cafeteria with metal tables to stand at but no seats, coffee, drinks, sandwiches and snacks were offered. We reached the Chunnel at 1:10 p.m. Then, 32 miles and 30 minutes later (the schedule said we should have been underwater only 19 minutes) we emerged into the sunlight of Britain. It was just like a subway ride from uptown to downtown New York _ except smoother and with no stops. There are three tunnels under the water _ one in each direction for Eurostar and Le Shuttle, the train that carries cars, trucks and freight. The third tunnel _ between the other two _ is a service tunnel; if there is an emergency such as a stalled train, passengers can walk from regularly placed walkways and board electric mini-buses that would take them out. Ventilation plants are situated on both English and French sides of the tunnel and fresh air is fanned in and used air fanned out. In England, daisies nodded in the grass and cows grazed tranquilly. We saw a lot of those. The train stopped, due to "a point failure" on the tracks, the PA announcement said, adding that our London arrival time had been revised from 2:13 to 3:30 p.m. In compensation, the train manager said, each passenger would be given a complimentary one-way Eurostar ticket in either direction. About 2, the train got underway again. After awhile, we began to pass English towns and villages, where red brick replaced the white houses and red tile roofs of France. The distance from Folkstone to London is only 65 miles, as compared with the 204 miles we had traveled from Paris to Calais, but our shorter journey in England turned out to take considerably longer. We were on the tracks in England 90 minutes for those 65 miles, versus the 62 minutes it had taken us to cover the 204 miles in France. In France, one track has been set aside for high-speed TGV and Eurostar trains alone, and they go up to 200 mph. In England, Eurostar must share the old-fashioned tracks with freight and commuter trains. As a result, the train speed in England is limited to 60 to 90 mph. When Britain (in about 2005, it is estimated) has a track for high-speed trains alone, it will reduce the Paris-London Eurostar traveling time by 40 minutes. With our delay, my Eurostar journey took four hours and 18 minutes, so I was not better off, timewise, than I would have been traveling by plane. But, in general, on the Paris-London Eurostar run, up to 80 percent of the trains have been within two minutes of their timetable. (On Brussels-London runs delays are more common because, in Belgium, as well as in England, Eurostar travels on ordinary tracks). But certainly my trip was more convenient _ on the train in downtown Paris; off the train at Waterloo Station on the south bank of the River Thames, a 10-minute taxi ride from the heart of London. By next spring, Eurostar plans routes from Manchester, England and Edinburgh straight through the Chunnel, with no London stop. There was some backup getting luggage through customs on the English end. Fellow travelers expressed their surprise about that, having expected precision from the English. But Waterloo has a new, well-equipped section of the station devoted to Eurostar reception and once we were through customs there was a bilingual tourist and exchange office to assist visitors. Eurostar, of course, has problems still to be worked out, but I would take it again any day that I was in a hurry on a French-English trip. Other travelers seem to be taking it, too, with its occupancy averaging 65-75 percent. Financially, the Eurotunnel Authority that had the tunnel built still is having economic difficulties because tunnel construction took a year and a half longer than expected at more than twice the original cost estimate. IF YOU GO: A one-way Eurostar second-class fare is about $125, first class, about $155, depending on currency exchange rates. Holders of such tickets as Eurailpass, France Railpass or BritFrance Railpass can make the journey at considerably reduced prices. Eurostar information and reservations may be made by calling (800) 387-6782. The one-way Le Shuttle fare for a car and any number of passengers is about $175 to $250, depending on the time of day and year, and information may be obtained from Thomas Ferran Inc., (800) 444-1545. Passengers remain in their cars during the crossing, but there are restrooms available. The one-way, second class, rail-ferry fare from Paris to London is about $145; first class $190. With the Hovercraft, the price is slightly more. Details from Britrail, (800) 551-1977, or from Rail Europe, (800) 438-7245.