Eurostar steps up plans for direct trains to Frankfurt
Eurostar has stepped up plans to run direct trains from London to Frankfurt and Geneva as it braces for fresh competition from new entrants in the Channel Tunnel rail market.
The firm is aiming to begin direct services from St Pancras International early next decade using a fleet of 50 new trains that it intends to order later this year or early in 2026.
Frankfurt could be reached in five hours and Geneva in five hours and 20 minutes, according to Eurostar, which hopes to attract both tourists and business people bound for the financial hubs.
It comes after Britain's rail regulator said last week that a number of companies had been invited to submit plans for operating trains through the Tunnel in competition with Eurostar.
Those include Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group, which exited the UK rail market in 2019, and Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley, a former chairman of the Rail Freight Group.
Trenitalia, the main operating arm of Italy's state railway company FS Italian, is also in the running and is expected to partner with Evolyn, backed by the Spanish Cosmen family.
Gwendoline Cazenave, Eurostar's chief executive, told the Telegraph last year that she was working on plans to take passengers to cities as far afield as Frankfurt, Geneva and Zurich as the company prepared for an end to its near 30-year Channel Tunnel monopoly.
Ms Cazenave said this week that subsequent studies had indicated that rail passengers are open to longer journeys spanning five hours or more, and that Eurostar's planned train order will be placed with 'bold ambitions' for new destinations in mind.
She told The Telegraph: 'Eurostar plans to make direct rail links from London to Switzerland and Germany a reality, just like we did between London and the Netherlands.
'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.'
Eurostar already allows customers to book tickets from London to Geneva and Zurich, although they must change in Paris onto trains run by TGV Lyria, a sister company under French state rail operator SNCF.
Discussions are continuing with Germany's Deutsche Bahn about a similar arrangement that would allow passengers on Eurostar trains to Cologne, a service inherited from its takeover of Thalys in 2023, to continue to Frankfurt.
A spokesman said the alliances would lay the groundwork for Eurostar to begin offering its own direct services following the delivery of the new trains, expected to be purchased from Alstom or Siemens in a £2bn order.
Eurostar plans to retain its 17 existing Siemens units, giving it a total of 67 trains once all 50 new deliveries arrive.
Ms Cazenave said the new trains must be able to operate in Britain and across the existing Eurostar network while being compatible with signalling and other systems in Germany and Switzerland, unlike the existing fleet.
Eurostar envisages a timetable of four return services a day to Frankfurt and three to Geneva. Operations to Rotterdam and Amsterdam, which it launched 2018, will increase to seven a day this year.
The expansion plans would also require work on securing track access, creating more passenger space at stations, and installing border facilities in the destination cities.
The UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding last month aimed at establishing direct train services between the countries.
Eurostar will also need to enlarge and modernise the Temple Mills maintenance depot in east London to accommodate the new trains.
A Eurostar spokesman said that could extend to establishing a second site for the upkeep of rolling stock, following last week's ruling from the Office of Rail and Road on admitting a new entrant to the depot.
Eurostar's underlying earnings fell 18pc last year to €346m (£292m) in what Ms Cazenave called a 'challenging economic climate'.
Revenue was little changed as the company attracted 19.5m passengers, while fixed costs rose and expenses related to the opening of new station lounges and improved facilities in Amsterdam ate into margins.
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