The British group Virgin has won a key episode in the battle for trains under the English Channel: it has just obtained access to the coveted Temple Mills London station, until now reserved for Eurostar and essential to launch competing connections between London and the continent.
Several companies have announced in recent months their intention to open lines that compete with Eurostar, currently the only one that transports passengers on the line under the Channel that connects London with the continent, and whose prices are criticized. Temple Mills is currently the only railway station accessible from the HS1 high-speed line connecting London to the Channel Tunnel. The Italian Trenitalia, the Spanish Evolyn and the British Gemini also requested access to the depot, but their request was denied, said on Thursday the ORR, which claimed to have preferred Virgin to Eurostar’s proposals to increase its own speed on routes under the English Channel.
Launch planned for 2030
Since the line’s launch in 1994, several companies have announced plans to compete with Eurostar, but none of these plans have come to fruition. The plans of Virgin, the group of billionaire Richard Branson, “were more financially and operationally sound than those of the other candidates”, because they clearly demonstrated “investor support and an agreement in principle to provide the necessary and adequate rolling stock”, says the ORR.
Virgin Trains plans to launch its services in 2030 according to the regulator, but the group will still need to conclude a commercial agreement with Eurostar, obtain financing, access to tracks and stations, as well as safety clearances from the ORR and relevant EU authorities. The Virgin railway company, which operated in the United Kingdom between 1997 and 2019, announced at the beginning of the year its intention to raise 300 million in capital and 400 million in loans for its new projects across the English Channel.
An underutilized infrastructure?
Users hope that the opening to competition will lead to a price war, as train tickets are usually much more expensive than plane tickets on the Paris-London route, despite initial prices of 39 pounds (or 44 euros). Eurotunnel, the company that manages the Eurotunnel, seeks to attract new operators, estimating that the infrastructure is capable of hosting up to 1,000 trains a day, compared to the current 400 (including Eurostar, Shuttle and freight). The British group London St. Pancras Highspeed, which operates the high-speed line that links London to the Channel Tunnel, also estimates that it is only operating at 50% of its capacity.
Eurostar “takes note” of the ORR’s decision on Thursday, according to a reaction sent. The operator, which had previously insisted the Temple Mills depot is now “almost full”, says it is considering “what steps to take to ensure our continued growth”. The group announced last week that it had chosen the French industrial group Alstom to build 50 new trains, 20 of them as options, representing an investment of 2 billion euros. A record 19.5 million customers traveled with Eurostar in 2024, 850,000 more than in 2023, the company said in January.
Source: BFM TV
