It has long been the ambition, going back to the construction of the channel tunnel itself, that rail links to destinations across Europe would be possible. However, the reality has often fallen short with the bulk of services being limited to Paris and Brussels, where Eurostar has firmly established itself as dominant in competition with the alternative routes by air. To put it into context, the newest Eurostar trains can carry over 900 passengers – that’s more than two jumbo jets every hour to Paris. The airlines are not able to fill that level of capacity but Eurostar fills its trains.
There is of course now the route to Amsterdam and sometimes there are seasonal services to the Alps and the South of France, but nothing on the scale of these proposed new routes to Germany and Switzerland. Note that this has never been an issue about capacity in the tunnel itself – which has a design capacity of between 400 and 600 trains each way every day. Rather it is rolling stock that has become the limiting factor, as well as capacity at the rolling stock depot and at Paddington. The new routes here will be made possible in substantial part by the high-speed operator’s purchase of 50 new trains, which are set to enter service within the next decade.
Proposed new route map
These new trains will join Eurostar’s existing fleet of 17 e320s, bringing the total fleet to 67 trains – a 30% increase on the current fleet – with Eurostar also confirming a fourth daily service between London, Rotterdam and Amsterdam from 9 September, followed by a fifth from mid-December.
Gwendoline Cazenave, Eurostar’s CEO, said: “We’re seeing strong demand for train travel across Europe, with customers wanting to go further by rail than ever before and enjoy the unique experience we provide. Despite the challenging economic climate, Eurostar is growing and has bold ambitions for the future.
“Our new fleet will make new destinations for customers a reality – notably direct trains between London and Germany, and between London and Switzerland for the first time. A new golden age of international sustainable travel is here.”
This news comes in the context of other operators such as Virgin Trains and Gemini Trains planning to rival the high-speed operator on cross-Channel routes and a regulatory process that is well underway to decide on capacity allocation. We will see how this plays out, but it is interesting to note how some potential competition has spurred some ambition at Eurostar.