For almost three decades, the Franco-British company Eurostar has held a monopoly on passenger rail services through the Channel Tunnel between France and the UK, but recently this monopoly seems to be coming to an end as other rail companies want a slice of the cake.
Not all the announcements about running trains through the Eurotunnel are coming to fruition, but it’s well known that there’s no smoke without fire. Even if in some cases the fire is hotter, it is worth looking at what has been happening recently, as it is not known where and especially when the fire will break out. In this article, we do not intend to pass judgement on the chances of one or other of the operators to realise their announced plans, but we will simply set out what has been circulated in the public or less public space.
The Dutch company Heurotrain has announced plans to start running passenger trains from the Netherlands to London and Paris (via Antwerp and Brussels) from the end of 2027. The operator presented its project to the Dutch competition authority (Autoriteit Consument & Markt – ACM).
Specifically, Heurotrain wants to launch the Amsterdam-London train service from December 2027, via the Channel Tunnel, with stops at Schiphol, Rotterdam, Antwerp and Brussels, among others. According to the operator, 15 trains would run each day in both directions.
“Alongside its application to operate trains through the Eurotunnel, Heurotrain has also applied to ACM to run passenger trains between Amsterdam and Paris, with intermediate stops at Antwerp and Brussels, in which case there would be 16 journeys per day. Other companies, such as Qbuzz and Arriva, have already announced plans for high-speed trains on the Amsterdam-Paris rail line via Belgium.
Evolyn announcements tempered by Alstom
But back to the subject of this article, the Eurotunnel rail link. Recently, another European rail operator, Evolyn, announced its intention to compete with Eurostar in the Channel Tunnel, with a Paris-London link, and the timetable put forward was even tighter, namely from 2026. The journey time between Paris and London would have been two hours and 15 minutes.
For the moment, the names of the companies in the Evolyn consortium are not fully known. Only the name of the British carrier Mobico (ex-British National Express), a company whose majority shareholder is the Spanish family Cosmen, is known. The latter owns a small transport empire in Spain and China.
The project, which was born three years ago, will require an initial investment of GBP 1 bn, equivalent to EUR 1.155 bn. According to early reports, Evolyn will attack Eurostar Group head-on, coming with an aggressive fare policy, namely much cheaper tickets. The consortium also wants to diversify its transport routes, with a Paris-Brussels connection being considered.
Evolyn, a recently formed consortium, has even publicly announced that it has placed an order with rolling stock giant Alstom for 12 high-speed trains to compete with Eurostar on the Paris-London route. “After three years of development, the agreement to purchase 12 trains, with an option to expand to 16 units, marks the materialisation of the project, with the objective of starting operations in 2025,” the release issued by Evolyn stated.
However, less than 24 hours after this press release hit the public, Alstom officials denied the existence not only of the order but also of the contract.
“Following the publication of Evolyn’s press release, which suggests that an agreement has been reached between Evolyn and Alstom for the purchase of 12 high-speed trains, Alstom would like to provide important information by way of clarification and to highlight the following points: Alstom and Evolyn have agreed on a short-term agreement to start preparatory engineering work on the train systems, with the objective of continuing this work in the event that the two companies sign a contract for the purchase and delivery of a certain number of trains, provided that Evolyn is in a position to secure the financing of the project. As regards the potential delivery dates of the new trains, at this stage the final delivery dates of the trains can only be confirmed at a later stage when a firm and definitive agreement has been agreed and a contract signed,” Alstom said in a statement.
Under these circumstances, the plans announced by Evolyn seem to be seriously questioned and the launch of the Paris-London rail link must be viewed with great reservations, especially in view of the announced start year of 2026.
Sir Richard Branson prepares to return to rail
But in the meantime, a new company seems to be emerging on the scene to take a slice of the cake now wholly owned by Eurostar. According to as yet unconfirmed information, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, founder of the well-known Virgin Group, is in talks with Getlink, the manager of the Eurotunnel infrastructure.
The British businessman already has a notable track record in rail transport with Virgin Trains, which ended four years ago. And former Virgin Trains chief executive Phil Whittingham would oversee the UK-France rail link project under the Channel.
British rail sources said Virgin would have a good chance of succeeding in his project to compete with Eurostar, given his experience in passenger rail from 1997 to 2019 in the U.K. Virgin group officials, however, have gone silent and refused to comment on what they called “speculation.” But neither have they denied the information.
For their part, Getlink officials also declined to comment, but said they would “welcome an increase in traffic through the Channel Tunnel, whether that comes from the incumbent operator, Eurostar, or from new entrants to the market”.
Market entry fraught with obstacles
But new market entry is not as simple as one might think at first glance.
Although the infrastructure manager, Getlink, has recently upgraded some technical elements of the tunnel to make it easier for more trains to pass through, there is still the problem of a lack of parking space for trains at St Pancras station in London and Gare du Nord station in Paris. In particular, there are too few lines that can be used for this purpose, given that these platforms have to be equipped with customs control facilities since the UK left the European Union. As a result, a Paris-London train cannot depart from a regular line intended for trains running within the Community. On the other hand, as is well known in the railway industry, procuring rolling stock is not a simple and quick business these days.
Since 1994, Eurostar has been providing regular rail passenger services between Paris, Brussels and London using the Channel Tunnel. A monopoly that looks solid, but Eurostar Group (which owns all of Eurostar’s shares from April 2022) may still face a major competitor.
It’s been a while since Getlink (the company that runs the tunnel) has been trying to find new rail operators. For the time being, there is only competition on the rail freight side, with DB Shencker being a notable example.
Since the launch of the France-UK fast rail link almost three decades ago, several operators have announced their intention to compete with Eurostar, including the German state-owned Deutsche Bahn ten years ago and Spanish Renfe, but none of these announced projects have materialised so far.
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