How Eurostar is preparing for competitors on Channel link

Eurostar has ordered 30, potentially rising to 50, new trains that are set to enter service in 2031, as part of plans to remain competitive as new operators could enter the cross-Channel and international market in the next five years.

The announcement of the new trains comes as competitors Trenitalia and Virgin Trains work on plans to bring their own high-speed services to the cross-Channel route and throughout France and beyond.

For example, Trenitalia plans to provide 10 London-Paris round-trips by 2029 via the Channel Tunnel, while Virgin has said it is aiming to offer direct rail links to cities in Germany, Switzerland, and across France.

‘Relaxed approach’

So far, Eurostar has said that it is not worried about the operators encroaching on their business.

“It won’t be happening any time soon; we’re talking about 2029–2030 at the earliest, in the best-case scenario,” said a Eurostar spokesperson to BFM Business on March 24.

“Trenitalia and Virgin will need to have their trains certified, and that takes a very long time given that these trains travel through several countries as well as through the tunnel, so we’re taking a relaxed approach. 

“In the meantime, we are investing in up to 50 new trains, which will enter service in May 2031,” 

The trains will be manufactured by Alstom and are expected to cost some €2 billion. The investment will help Eurostar to fulfil its aims of significantly increasing its capacity, to 30 million passengers a year.

Eurostar, which is part of SNCF Voyageurs, currently has 80% of the Paris-London market, and carried 20 million passengers last year, an increase of 500,000 from 2024. It currently runs up to 25 daily services between Paris and Brussels, and 20 to and from Paris and London.

Virgin Trains expects to work with Alstom again, which produced its pendolino trains, and has also secured access to the Temple Mills maintenance site, which until now has been used exclusively by Eurostar. 

Eurostar has said it is not sure how this will work, because the “site is already at full capacity”. Yet, the spokesperson said that the companies are on “good terms” and that Eurostar “respects the decision that has been made” regarding the site (the decision made by the UK’s Office of Rail and Road).

For its part, Italian operator Trenitalia is planning an €80 million investment in building its own maintenance centre near Paris, which is set to be open by 2029. The company wants to serve countries including the UK, France, Italy, and Germany.

Eurostar says that it is already operating as the "European metro”, with services that run to and from London and France, as well as routes to Brussels (Belgium), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany). It is set to launch more services along these routes in the next few years, as well as additional services to Geneva (Switzerland).

Eurostar defends prices 

Eurostar has also recently defended its prices, which are often criticised for being too high (particularly when compared to, for example, taking a plane from Paris to London on a low-cost airline carrier).

The company has argued that its ticket prices have “no hidden costs”, and no extras are required when booking a ticket and said that its proven history in running cross-Channel services makes it a “genuine expert”.

Trains that operate across Europe are also expensive, and can cost up to €40 million each (as opposed to €30 million for a conventional TGV), because of the need to operate across multiple networks, found a recent study by transport consultancy firm Kern Consulting.

This adds to the maintenance and operational costs, which are already high because of the international trains’ added complexity. 

Similarly, operators must pay Channel Tunnel operator Getlink to use the tunnel infrastructure.

Virgin Trains company boss Sir Richard Branson has said that the new operators will “end a 30 year monopoly” and “shake up the cross-Channel market”.