Latest news with #GeminiTrains


The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Eurostar vows to run direct trains from UK to Germany and Switzerland
Eurostar has vowed to run direct trains from the UK to Germany and Switzerland, as it attempts to fend off potential competitors eyeing its London depot space. The cross-Channel rail operator's chief executive, Gwendoline Cazenave, said she had no doubt the direct services would run in the early 2030s despite the failure of previous ventures to connect London and Frankfurt. Eurostar said the conditions were now 'finally right' and it was ready for a 'new golden age of international sustainable travel', as it reiterated plans to buy up to 50 new trains. Total passenger numbers for Eurostar grew 5% last year, and a number of other possible players have announced plans to break into its monopoly on train services between Britain and France. However, the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), has said that there is only depot space in London for one more operator – or for Eurostar to expand. The ORR has asked Eurostar and its rivals to submit plans, for a decision later this year, on how to allocate the space in the Temple Mills depot in east London. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin group has announced plans for a 12-train cross-Channel service, while a similar-sized operation could be run by a British startup, Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley. The Italian state railway FS Italiane is also looking to enter the market in a joint venture with a Spanish company, Evolyn. Eurostar has insisted there is no space in the depot, particularly if its own growth plans go ahead. It has indicated it would help fund a new depot, although it has called on the UK government to develop a 'clear national strategy for supporting international rail'. It is targeting direct trains from London to Frankfurt and Geneva, taking about five hours to the German financial hub and about 20 minutes more to the Swiss city. It said that the number of flights operating on the routes showed the strong demand for travel – and many business and leisure passengers would now wish to take the train instead to travel more sustainably. The next generation of trains would also be able to handle the complexities of different systems and these longer routes. Creating the new connections will require a number of hurdles to be overcome, including establishing border controls, station infrastructure, and timetable paths, a spokesperson said. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion However, Cazenave told the PA news agency that she had 'no doubt' the new direct services would happen because of the 'willingness' of Eurostar, passengers and governments. The UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding last month aimed at establishing direct train services between the countries. Eurostar said its revenues grew 2% to €2bn (£1.7bn) in 2024, with passenger numbers across its services – including those within France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany – up to 19.5 million. It has yet to select a manufacturer for its planned €2bn train order. Eurostar, meanwhile, confirmed it will boost the frequency of its direct trains to the Netherlands after the completion of building work at the international terminus in Amsterdam in February, allowing it to board a full complement of 850 passengers. A fourth daily return service between London St Pancras and Amsterdam will run from 9 September, and a fifth one will start in mid-December.


The Independent
07-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Will Gemini Trains leave the station any time soon?
Q Do you think the new Gemini services from London to Paris will actually happen? Rebecca H A Gemini Trains is one of several contenders aiming to compete with Eurostar, the incumbent operator from London St Pancras International to Paris, Brussels and the Netherlands. Eurostar has had the lucrative cross-Channel passenger train market to itself since the Channel Tunnel opened in 1994. The start-up plans to purchase 10 new trains for the service and promises 'competitive fares on comfortable, high-quality and frequent train services between the UK and continental Europe'. If it is permitted to launch trains through the Channel Tunnel, services will not start from the terminal at St Pancras – but six miles down the track at Stratford International. Stratford is served by the Elizabeth Line from central London, Heathrow airport and Reading. Two Underground lines – the Central and Jubilee – provide other connections, as does the London Overground, Greater Anglia and the Docklands Light Railway. Regrettably, it is a 10-minute walk from Stratford's main station to the International station, but perhaps some kind of shuttle will be provided. Gemini Trains will also call at Ebbsfleet, the north Kent station mothballed by Eurostar since Covid and Brexit. Gemini's chances of success improved sharply when the transport tech giant Uber said it would go into partnership. Services from Stratford to Paris Nord and Brussels Midi could begin by 2030 – which might look an age away, but in international rail terms is relatively swift. One big concern is stabling for the trains; Temple Mills depot is close to full just with Eurostar trains. As well as Gemini Trains, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Italy's state railway operator FS Italiane Group are hoping to start services from London to Paris. I expect at least one of them to launch – hopefully, all three will do so. The High Speed 1 line and the Channel Tunnel are both running at about half their capacity, and the traveller deserves better. Q You have been writing about fare dodging and the complexity of rail fares. Perhaps a small number of exceptionally quiet off-peak services could be free? That would allow legitimate travel for those who can't afford to travel at convenient times. Peter C A Your idea is well worth an airing. Fresh thinking about public transport is much needed. As a frequent rail passenger across the UK, I always feel despondent when boarding (for example) an early afternoon midweek train and find I am virtually the only passenger in a carriage built for 70 or 80: what a waste of safe, swift capacity. Could it not be used to transport people who are currently not paying? This would provide much-needed mobility, and possibly tempt motorists to switch to the train. Well, I have modelled what might happen if, for example, the 1.18pm Greater Anglia service on a Wednesday from London Liverpool Street to Clacton in Essex was declared free. This is one of many such trains that are almost certain to be lightly loaded. It stops nine times along the way to the resort at the end of the line, including Chelmsford and Colchester. I predict that most passengers who would normally travel around lunchtime on trains to those cities would switch to the free option. In addition, people whose final destination is Ipswich or Norwich would take the opportunity to cut the cost of their journey. They would avail of the free train and pay only for the segment onwards from Colchester. They would change trains and wait for the next express to Suffolk and Norfolk, which would become extremely crowded with people who had the same plan. Moving motorists to trains is a noble ambition, but I must point out that Luxembourg introduced nationwide free travel five years ago, and traffic congestion is still terrible. Perhaps, though, I can finesse your concept by recommending a heavily discounted fare – perhaps £5 compared with a typical price of £20. That is pitched temptingly low for people who currently travel ticketless to conclude fare dodging is not worth the risk – but not quite so cheap that mayhem breaks out on Greater Anglia as existing passengers converge on a bargain train. The train operator will soon come under UK government control – a good moment to test the concept. Q I read your article about easyJet passengers spending 23 hours travelling from Palma to Liverpool. Two things intrigued me: is it normal for a person whose condition causes a diversion to be allowed back on the flight? And will the passengers be due any compensation? Jenny R A An easyJet plane from Mallorca to Merseyside was at 38,000 feet over southwest France shortly after midnight on Wednesday when crew were alerted to a male passenger experiencing a health issue. The pilots decided to divert, turned around and landed half an hour later at Bordeaux airport. Paramedics attended the aircraft. The passenger, who was able to walk off the aircraft, was taken to a local hospital for a check-up. While that was happening, the normal procedure would be for the plane to refuel and continue its journey. But no fuel was available due to the late hour, and the flight could not continue. As a result, everyone was offloaded. Passengers had to spend almost all of the next day in Bordeaux as a new crew was found for the flight. Happily, the gentleman who was unwell on the original flight was also on board after undergoing checks and being passed as fit to fly. So there was no reason for him not to fly home with everyone else (including the original crew, who travelled back as passengers). This is far from normal. In almost all other cases, one or both of the following happens: the medical condition is serious enough to warrant extended medical treatment, or the flight is able to continue once the passenger (and their baggage) have left the aircraft. It is clear that easyJet was dealt a difficult hand, with almost all hotels in the area full. Some passengers had to spend the night – and much of the following day – at the airport. Under air passengers' rights rules, no one is entitled to any cash compensation. Unlike 'delay repay' on the railways, the deciding factor for a payout is whether the airline was at fault. When the pilots divert due to concern for a passenger's health, that is classed as an 'exceptional circumstance' and easyJet is excused from paying compensation. Q We will be visiting our daughter in Australia this November and will spend some time in Adelaide en route. We would also like to visit Kangaroo Island. Is this doable on a day trip or would you recommend a stay on the island? Chris B A Kangaroo Island lies west of Cape Jervis in South Australia, which itself is about 100km (62 miles) southwest of the state capital, Adelaide. It is Australia's third-largest island, after Tasmania and Melville Islands in the Northern Territory – and bigger than some sizeable English counties, such as Kent and Cornwall. Yet if you want simply to see some highlights, there are plenty of tours that will take you there for the day. They mostly involve the ferry from Cape Jervis – a 45-minute voyage to Penneshaw on Kangaroo Island. Three main island attractions are on the western half of the south coast: sea lions frolicking at Seal Bay Conservation Park; the weirdly sculpted Remarkable Rocks on the edge of the Southern Ocean; and the boardwalk descent towards another natural feature, Admirals Arch, at Kangaroo Island's version of Land's End. The other essential: Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park, plumb in the middle of the island, where you can see the island's distinctive kangaroos – shorter, stockier and darker than the mainland marsupials. If time and money are not on your side, go for the Sealink one-day trip from Adelaide, costing $227 (£109). While it is a long day – 16 hours – you will get a sense of the island. Ideally, though, make it a longer adventure: three days with a rental car from Adelaide. This will allow you to pause and enjoy the scenery of the Fleurieu Peninsula along the way rather than racing through to Cape Jervis. More importantly, it will give you time to appreciate the island in more depth. In particular, you should sample at least a few hours of the Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. The stretch of this trans-island path running east from the Southern Ocean Lodge is particularly rewarding for both coastal views and inland nature. If you plan to splash out at any time during your Australian trip, and have an industrial-strength credit card, consider staying there for two nights (the minimum stay) – for around £3,500.


Telegraph
05-06-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Branson faces fight to challenge Eurostar
Sir Richard Branson faces a fight to fulfil his dream of operating trains through the Channel Tunnel after the rail regulator concluded there was room for just one new entrant. The ruling means that Sir Richard must convince the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) that he is better placed to provide competition to Eurostar than three rival bidders. While the ORR found that the only UK depot capable of servicing Channel Tunnel trains has room to handle more, it made clear that vital maintenance capacity is extremely limited. The regulator said: 'Taken together with Eurostar and applicants' initial plans, the assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar to grow.' The chosen bidder will win the right to compete with Eurostar in the lucrative Paris market and potentially launch new services to cities such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Frankfurt and Zurich. The ruling is poised to pitch Sir Richard's Virgin Trains against Gemini Trains, chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley, which has said it would provide services from London's St Pancras International to Paris and Brussels with a fleet of 10 trains. Also in the running is Trenitalia, the main operating arm of Italy's state railway company FS Italian, which is expected to partner with a fourth bidder, Evolyn, backed by the Spanish Cosmen family, the leading investor in Mobico, formerly National Express. Virgin Trains has said it would order a dozen trains worth around £500m, most likely from Alstom or Siemens, which together provided the Eurostar fleet, representing half of a required £1bn in launch funding. Sir Richard would take a major equity stake, supported by a partner or partners. While inactive on the UK rail network since 2019, Virgin Trains was credited with bringing airline-style flair to the West Coast route between London and Scotland following its privatisation in the late 1990s. The current West Coast contract is run by Trenitalia with FirstGroup and ranked as Britain's worst train service for punctuality and the second worst for cancellations in the first quarter, according to the most recent ORR figures. While Eurostar itself said it will also stake a claim to the spare capacity at Temple Mills depot in east London, the ORR is expected to favour an end to its 31-year monopoly over passenger express services between Britain and the Continent. In a letter to bidders, the regulator asked them to present final submissions 'at pace' in order to allow it to make a decision on awarding the routes by the end of October. However, it cautioned that applicants must submit detailed plans on the allocation of depot capacity and said that they were free to work together on alternative solutions for providing maintenance. Eurostar, which connects London with Paris, Lille, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the French Alps, said it is still of the view that Temple Mills is too full to accommodate a new entrant, with the one and a half servicing lanes available sufficient for five trains at most. The company, owned by French state railway SCNF, said the only workable solution may be to build a second UK depot and that there a number of suitable sites available, including one at Stratford, close to Temple Mills. While construction costs would most likely exceed £100m, a spokesman said it would be open to collaborating with a potential rival to share the cost. Eurostar operates a fleet of around 20 trains from St Pancras but plans to place an order for up to 50 more as early as this year, to be split between its Channel Tunnel routes and a Paris-to-Brussels service. The spokesman said: 'It's clear a strategic, joined-up approach is needed to unlock the full potential of international rail for passengers and the UK economy.'


Time Out
27-05-2025
- Business
- Time Out
Uber has revealed plans to run trains to Europe from Stratford in east London
For a long time, the Eurostar has been the only passenger train ferrying Brits from London, under the Channel and onto the Continent. But not for long. In recent years cross-Channel ambitions have been revealed by the likes of Deutsche Bahn and Evolyn, while Virgin has announced a new service that will be a direct competitor with the OG London-Paris line, due to launch in 2029. Now there's been an update for yet another Eurostar competitor. It involves Gemini Trains, which is led by Labour peer Tony Berkeley and was launched back in March. Gemini will be teaming up with Uber to launch a new international train line, that could take Londoners en train to Paris and Brussels from Stratford in the heart of east London. 'Stratford is a bit of a blank canvas,' said Adrian Quine, chief executive of Gemini Trains. 'It's a bit like London City airport as opposed to Heathrow or Gatwick: it's very quick and easy to get through. It's going to be far less crowded, so we think it's a bit of a jewel in the crown.' When the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (AKA High Speed 1, HS1) was built back in 2007 Stratford International station was fitted out to handle passengers heading across the Channel from London, but it was never used for this purpose. The HS1 Stratford station has only been used by domestic Southeastern trains using the high-speed track to stations in Kent. Quine said a Stratty to Paris train could be 'as quick, if not quicker' than the service from St Pancras. He said that Londoners could be hopping on in east London and hopping off at Paris Nord or Brussels Midi by 2030.


BBC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Uber set to reopen Ebbsfleet International by 2029
Trains to and from Europe via the Channel Tunnel will stop in Kent up to 10 times each day under new plans by Gemini Trains and services stopped calling at Ebbsfleet and Ashford international stations at the beginning of the pandemic, and have so far not rail operator Gemini Trains and transport app Uber recently announced they were teaming up and planned to rival Eurostar by operating trains between London St Pancras and the Quine, CEO of Gemini, said the new service could be introduced by 2029 and would stop at Ebbsfleet, although Ashford is not in the plans for now. Mr Quine told BBC Radio Kent: "It's very important because Eurostar no longer stop in Kent and there's eight million people who live in the south-east of England, outside the M25, for whom having a direct service to the continent is extremely important."Ebbsfleet is a perfect station. It's designed for international traffic, it's got a massive car park, it's very well connected via the road network and it's connected to the rest of Kent via the HS1 service."We're proposing every train stops there."The deal, similar to that between Uber and the London Thames Clipper boats, would see tickets offered through the app but operations remaining the responsibility of Quine said he was between 60 and 70% sure that the project between Gemini and Uber would be green lit by the rail regulator.