This is an important step for the activity in the Channel Tunnel. Its operator, the Getlink group, has announced on Tuesday the start-up of new equipment that improves the stability of its electrical network, which will allow an increase in the number of trains that pass through the tunnel. Investment amount: 45 million euros.
Eurotunnel, the historic Getlink division in charge of the tunnel, will be able to run up to eight trains per direction at a time between France and England, that is, 1,000 trains a day, compared to six trains per direction at a time until now, Getlink said in a statement.
Above all, this development will allow competition to take hold to attack the monopoly of Eurostar, the passenger transport operator, a subsidiary of SNCF.
The Spanish Renfe has shown interest
Getlink has long wanted to attract more rail operators to the tunnel, which is currently also used by freight trains and its own ferries carrying trucks and cars.
On what horizon? On BFM Business, Jacques Gounon, president of Getlink, estimated last April that a new operator could be launched “in 3 to 5 years”, with railway processes being long. It is a matter of first obtaining the necessary authorizations and then only buying the rolling stock (which is in short supply at the moment).
What would this operator be? “Eurostar is doing a very good job, but a certain number of investors are ready, if given the legal framework that allows it, to buy trains and then lend them to an operator,” he explained without giving a name.
As for historical carriers, the Spanish Renfe He has already shown his ambitions. “Renfe is a public entity that does not need to have equipment bought by private investors,” explains the manager.
Asked by BFM Business, Getlink did not respond to our requests for additional comment.
Source: BFM TV
