AFTER A LONG WAIT VIRGIN RETURNS TO RAIL >>THIS TIME DESTINATION EUROPE

More than 31 years after the first Eurostar left London for Paris, Eurostar may finally enjoy some competition from Virgin if and when they launch their new services to Paris & Brussels, hopefully in 2030. This is because the Office for Road & Rail (The Regulator) have ruled that Virgin must be allowed to share the Stratford train care depot with Eurostar. See here for the ORR Press Release: https://www.orr.gov.uk/search-news/rail-regulator-opens-door-future-international-train-services-temple-mills-access. Although Virgin have not been a train operator in the UK since 2019, they were able to make the best case to the Regulator. Virgin have raised suitable finance to order a fleet of “Avelia Stream” trains which can be maintained at the depot in Stratford.

While this is a start, Virgin will have their work cut out for the next 4+ years if the service is to start as planned in 2030. Hopefully, we can finally look forward to lower fares on the London to Paris & Brussels route with proper “through-ticketing” between major UK stations and all major stations in Europe. We now have to wait and see if any of their 3 rivals (Gemini Trains, Evolyn & Trenitalia France) have any further plans. From the UK side, we hope that one of them might have a viable plan to start a service using Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford International stations.

We can recommend a very interesting discussion about this decision and what this might entail for the future. Have a look at this Green Signals video on Youtube at : Virgin Trains is BACK! And ready to take on Eurostar…