Crack all the train spotter jokes that come to mind - they will not have much of an effect on Michael Woods.

The policy manager at European Passenger Services, operators of the gleaming new Eurostar service to Paris and Brussels through the Channel Tunnel, is unashamedly a railways junkie.He also knows a fair few things about the law - despite being a layman with a social and political science degree.

Indeed, Mr Woods is undoubtedly better acquainted with certain aspects of railway legislation than most lawyers, having spent the last six years picking through the intricate web of statutes and orders which govern a transport link many never believed would be dug.But, after a century of planning and abortive projects, dug it certainly was.

Two days ago, Eurostar began its regularly scheduled services to the continent.

For Mr Woods, opening day to the public was the climax of years of complex legal negotiations.It has been an educational process to say the least.

Eurostar is currently in a state of semi-limbo - still technically state owned but on the precipice of privatisation.

Managers have more or less been given the freedom to behave as though they are in the private sector, obtaining professional advice from whomever they believe is the best supplier.'We have had to become informed buyers of legal services,' explains Mr Woods.

'We have to realise that just because a lawyer tells you something is right does not mean that he is the only person with an opinion.

Other lawyers have opinions and we, as managers in the industry, have our own views.

We have to know how to debate those with our lawyers and not be overawed by the appearance and the sound of the legal world.'To tackle the legal complexities of running an international rail service, Mr Wood's policy team has one in-house lawyer seconded from City firm Nicholson Graham & Jones.

It also passes most of its property work to the London firm Church Adams Tatham & Co, which has inherited many of British Rail's former property lawyers post farming out.Much of the legal work involves property and contract law.

Freehold titles and lines of demarcation had to be agreed with the new nationalised body, Railtrack.

Also the creatio n of Waterloo International Station has involved dozens of sale deeds and transfer schemes.Impending privatisation has meant that legal contracts must be signed, rather than working on the old nod-and-a-wink basis of 'general understandings' as were used when the railway industry was one body 'vertically integrated'.Adapting to private sector working practices has had its ups and downs, says Mr Woods.

'There are great benefits to be derived from having firm, proper contractual arrangements and knowing what your position as a customer is rather than being part of a big, amorphous organisation.

But we have had to spend a lot of management time, and have had to pay a lot of lawyers a lot of money, to get these contracts right.'As an unofficial mark of opening day, Mr Woods has produced the prosaically entitled 'Eurostar guide to legal rights and responsibilities and procedures in the United Kingdom'.Essentially, it is a practical handbook for all Eurostar employees from train drivers to caterers to terminal staff and corporate managers.The legal history of the rail link began with the Treaty of Canterbury, signed in 1986 by Margaret Thatcher and Fran - ois Mitterand.

That laid down the international frontier - a point in the middle of the tunnel - delineated areas of jurisdiction, and made arrangements for police frontier controls and security.

Just about every other legal point concerning the rail link flows from that treaty.Subsequent legislation and orders include the Channel Tunnel Act 1987, a monster piece of legislation which sparked considerable controversy when passed by Parliament.

Public concern centred on the environmental implications for the Kent countryside, though the Act itself also set down how British customs and immigration controls were to be conducted.It was followed by the Sangatte protocol 1991 which authorised British and French officials to conduct frontier controls in each others' territory.Immigration controls remain a legal thorn for Eurostar.

Ultimately, it would like to see a reduction or even total dismantling of checks.

'There are those who say the British, Irish and Danish governments are acting in contravention of the Treaty of Rome and the Single Market Act [by retaining immigration controls],' says Mr Woods.

Observers say that while the Commission is currently turning a blind eye, it is gearing up to act against those governments as soon as next year.One of the major victories achieved by Mr Wood's team during their journey through this legal quagmire was winning Eurostar an exemption from the Carriers Liability Act.

That legislation imposes £2000 fines on airlines and shipping companies for each passenger found not to have appropriate papers and visas.Mr Woods acknowledges that that decision caused a stir amongst Eurostar's competitors.

Not to have the concession, Mr Woods argues, would have put the service at a significant disadvantage as immigration controls would have had to be conducted in the stations, adding considerably to passengers' overall journey times.Throughout this legal labyrinth, Mr Woods has remained on better than speaking terms with his lawyer colleagues.

'I enjoy working with lawyers.

They are as essential for the running of a modern railway industry as train operators and signalmen.'