Virgin wants to send twenty high-speed trains a day through the Channel Tunnel from 2030, linking London with Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. The British group sees the venture as a direct competitor to Eurostar, which has so far held a monopoly on the route, and expects to raise tunnel traffic from 4.75 million passengers to roughly 7.5 million.
The conglomerate controlled by Richard Branson has confirmed the timetable for its cross-Channel ambitions. Thirteen of the daily services would run from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord, with the remaining departures heading for Brussels and Amsterdam. The first step involves securing access to French rail infrastructure under an agreement with the network manager SNCF Réseau.
– We plan to introduce 20 daily connections between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam starting from 2030, creating up to a thousand new jobs – Virgin said in a statement.
Should the necessary approvals come through, the operator intends to order a new fleet from the French manufacturer Alstom. The trainsets are to reach speeds of up to 300 km/h, putting them on a par with the fastest services now crossing the tunnel.
A rival for Eurostar
Eurostar, the incumbent carrier, runs between twelve and eighteen London-Paris services a day depending on the season and the day of the week. Its Brussels route takes eight to ten daily trains, while Amsterdam is served by five. Those frequencies leave considerable space for a second operator on the cross-Channel corridor.
The new entrant would arrive on a market that has been shaped for years by a single player. Virgin’s declared aim is to lift the number of people travelling under the English Channel to about 7.5 million by 2030, an increase of roughly 2.75 million compared with the current figure of 4.75 million.
Jet fuel prices change the economics
Rail projects of this kind have gained fresh momentum as aviation fuel costs have climbed sharply. The surge in kerosene prices has improved the relative standing of trains against short-haul flights, which gives competing services through the La Manche tunnel a realistic chance of being launched.
Under the plan, the London-Paris leg would account for the bulk of the capacity on offer, with the Belgian and Dutch capitals absorbing the rest of the daily timetable. Twenty departures in each direction would make Virgin a visible presence at St Pancras, Gare du Nord and the other terminals on the route.
Źródło: WNP.PL, Fot. Olrat / Shutterstock
