Passengers will have more choice of international train services through the Channel Tunnel, regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said.
It said it will allocate spare capacity at Eurostar‘s Temple Mills maintenance depot in north-east London to either one new operator or Eurostar itself, which has plans to grow.
Eurostar holds a monopoly in running passenger services through the Channel Tunnel.
Other organisations developing proposals to launch rival services include billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson‘s Virgin Group, Italy‘s state-owned railway company FS Italiane Group, and Gemini Trains, which is chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley.
Access to depot space for maintaining and storing trains is a critical requirement for new operators or Eurostar to boost services.
From London St Pancras, Eurostar serves Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, as well as running seasonal ski trains to the French Alps.
Getlink – the French owner of the Channel Tunnel – believes there is the potential for services between London and locations such as Bordeaux, Cologne, Frankfurt, Geneva, Marseille and Zurich.
A Eurostar e320 high-speed train heading towards France through Ashford in Kent in 2021
Passengers at London St Pancras on March 7 after Eurostar trains to the capital were halted following the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb near the tracks in Paris
Train schedules are displayed on the monitor by the Eurostar departure gates at St Pancras
The ORR’s deputy director for access and international, Martin Jones, said: ‘The growing appetite to provide international rail services is great news for passengers.
‘We now need operators to set out more detail on their proposals at pace, and will work quickly and as thoroughly as possible to determine the best use of capacity at Temple Mills.’
The regulator said it expects to reach a conclusion later this year.
It comes a fortnight after Uber said it has signed an agreement to ‘co-brand’ trains running through the Channel Tunnel.
It has formed a partnership with Gemini Trains, which is developing plans to launch international rail services from St Pancras and intends to purchase 10 new trains for its services.
The ORR said it will allocate spare capacity at Eurostar’s Temple Mills maintenance depot (pictured) in London to either one new operator or Eurostar itself, which has plans to grow
Passengers at St Pancras station in London, which Eurostar trains have served since 2007
Ebbsfleet International station opened in 2007 for Eurostar trains but they stopped in 2020
Eurostar staff wave off their first train to Paris at London St Pancras on November 14, 2007
Its initial routes would be from London St Pancras to Paris and Brussels – calling at Ebbsfleet, Kent – with plans to expand services to other European destinations.
Eurostar stopped calling at Ebbsfleet and Ashford, also in Kent, in March 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite local pressure for services to resume, the company has said it is focusing on its core routes.
As for other potential competitors, Virgin Group stated in March there were ‘no more major hurdles to overcome’ before it can begin operating.
Meanwhile efforts to establish direct train services between the UK and Switzerland have moved a step closer in recent weeks after the countries reached a co-operation agreement.
Passengers queue up to enter the old Eurostar terminal at London Waterloo station in 2001
Queen Elizabeth II steps off the Eurostar at Gare du Nord station in Paris on April 5, 2004
Passengers at London Waterloo, which operated as the Eurostar terminal from 1994 to 2007
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh travelling on the Eurostar train on May 7, 1994
The Channel Tunnel since it was officially opened on May 6, 1994 by Queen Elizabeth II and France’s then-president Francois Mitterrand (pictured together at Calais)
A memorandum of understanding was signed last month in an attempt to address barriers to the rail link, such as establishing border controls and meeting Channel Tunnel safety rules, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander held talks on the issue with Swiss transport minister Albert Rosti at London’s St Pancras station.
Most passengers travelling by rail between St Pancras and Switzerland change trains and stations in Paris, leading to a total journey time to and from Geneva of around seven-and-a-half hours.
This could be reduced to around five hours if services were direct.
London St Pancras Highspeed, which owns St Pancras station and the high-speed line to the Channel Tunnel, has said the line to the tunnel is operating at about 50 per cent capacity.
