AND NOW THERE WERE SEVEN + EUROSTAR

Late last year, on the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel, we still had only one train company running passenger services between London and the continent. 6 months into 2025, we now have at least 7 other possible competitors to Eurostar who are:- 1 Deutsche Bahn – They are the German State Rail Operator. They could probably raise the finance and already use similar trains to the e320s used by Eurostar. They have not given a launch-date for any services. 2 Evolyn/FS Italiane Group – This is a joint venture between a large Spanish coach company and Italian State Railways. They can probably raise the finance and claim that the Trenitalia ETR 400 trains could be adapted

AT LAST – ALL 3 MAIN FRENCH-ITALIAN RAIL CONNECTIONS ARE NOW OPEN

Through TGV and Frecciarossa services between Paris GDLyon ,Torino and Milano finally recommenced on March 31 following the reopening of the direct route via Modane. This line had been closed for over 18 months due to a serious landslip. Both SNCF and Trenitalia now run 2 services each per day from Paris to Milan & Turin. This means that there will once again be a good choice of daytime journey opportunities between London and Northern Italy. There is an alternative choice of services via Paris GDLyon to Milano with an easy change in Geneva or Lausanne. This route provides at least one day-time journey opportunity from London. Another alternative choice, also via Paris GDLyon to Milano, involves an easy change

PROGRESS – AT LAST !!

RUNWAYS TO RAILWAYS: At the end of March, the Campaign for Better Transport held their conference on International Rail. You may wish to read their Runways to Railways report at: https://bettertransport.org.uk/research/runways-to-railways-unlocking-the-potential-of-the-channel-tunnel/ THEN THE REGULATOR STEPS IN !! On the same day the Regulator (The Office for Rail & Road) confirmed that there was space for more than one train operator to use the depot in Stratford. This then led to 3 train operators making formal bids to run international train services from London to the continent via HS1 and the Channel Tunnel. The 3 organisations who made formal bids were Evolyn, Virgin and Gemini. There are also up to 4 others who have publicly expressed an interest. Being realistic, only

“QUITE A LOT HAS BEEN GOING ON RECENTLY”

We have some fairly positive news to report this month, beginning with: RUNWAYS TO RAILWAYS : UNLOCKING THE GROWTH POTENTIAL OF THE CHANNEL TUNNEL Monday 31st March – 6pm to 8pm in London – The Campaign for Better Transport will be holding a panel discussion about how the UK can make better use of International Rail. See below to register for this free event. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/runways-to-railways-unlocking-the-growth-potential-of-the-channel-tunnel-tickets-1262329444349?aff=oddtdtcreator RESTORING INTERNATIONAL SERVICES FROM ASHFORD & EBBSFLEET A group of Kent & Sussex MPs have met with Eurostar urging them to carry out a proper assessment of consumer demand for train services serving these 2 stations in Kent. They also met with Virgin & the Rail Minister who confirmed they were both keen to see

AT LAST – SOME GOOD NEWS – PLANS BEGIN FOR MORE SPACE IN THE INTERNATIONAL DEPARTURES AREA AT LONDON ST PANCRAS.

Late last year we heard that capacity for passengers departing from the station could be increased. HS1 announced that “a modest amount of new infrastructure would ‘unlock’ most of the constraints currently hampering growth” at St Pancras. Then, back in January HS1(The owners of St Pancras Station and the High-speed line to the Channel Tunnel) announced that they were recruiting a design team for this work. They have now re-named themselves as “London St Pancras Highspeed (LSPH)”. See here from the Architects Journal for further details about setting up the design team: –https://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/competitions/competition-launched-for-st-pancras-reconfiguration Last week we heard that LSPH and Getlink (The owners of the Channel Tunnel) have made an agreement to facilitate the expansion of passenger traffic along HS1

EUROPE RETURNS TO THE UK IN 2025

This year the European Passenger Federation will hold their 22nd annual conference in Swindon at the Steam Museum, which is near to the rail station. This will be the first time they have held their conference in the UK since 2008. The town of Swindon has a rich rail history and is associated with Rail 200 – a range of events across the UK celebrating 200 years of the railways. The conference will take place on Friday 13th June and Saturday 14th June. European Rail campaign (UK) is a member of the European Passenger Federation, which means that members of our campaign are entitled to pay the reduced fee for the conference. See here for further details about the conference:

FIRST STEPS TOWARDS INCREASED CAPACITY AT LONDON ST PANCRAS INTERNATIONAL

Finally, “Active Thinking” have now published their initial report which suggests capacity at the over-crowded Eurostar Terminal could actually be increased by around 33% during the next 3-4 years. They also say that in the long-term, with a re-design of the terminal, capacity could be further doubled to cater for up to 5,000 passengers per hour. We now have to hope that the terminals at the other end of the line in Europe will also be able to cope with the extra passengers. For further details please see : https://www.railwaygazette.com/uk/study-finds-international-passenger-capacity-at-london-st-pancras-could-be-doubled/68004.article AND THEN COULD THERE NOW BE SOME COMPETITION WITH EUROSTAR ? There was a very interesting session of “The House of Commons All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group on the 19th November.

30 YEARS OF EUROSTAR – AN ANNIVERSARY TO CELEBRATE ?

Eurostar is 30 years today, since regular train services started to run through the channel tunnel. It was not until 2007 that the full benefits of High-speed rail were realised when HS1 was completed when the London Terminal was moved from Waterloo to St Pancras. Although, in recent years, a through service from London to Rotterdam and Amsterdam has been introduced, other services have been permanently withdrawn or not re-instated since the outbreak of Covid in early 2020. There are no longer any through services from the UK to EuroDisney, the South of France or the Ski resorts in the French Alps. Since Covid, trains no longer serve the intermediate stations of Ebbsfleet, Ashford and Calais Frethun. WHERE ARE WE

FLIGHTFREE UK INVITES YOU TO A PYJAMA PARTY AT LONDON ST PANCRAS IN SUPPORT OF NIGHT TRAINS

Friday 25th October >>>> 7.30pm (till approx 8.30pm) >>>> St Pancras International station (Eurostar exit) Meet us at 7.30pm at the Eurostar exit inside St Pancras station– Wear pyjamas and bring whatever other nighttime paraphernalia you like e.g. teddy bears.– Bring a fully-charged smartphone and headphones.– Download the Zeno Radio app (or you can access this in your browser) to get the playlist.– Plug in, dance and enjoy!

MORE NIGHT TRAIN CONNECTIONS FROM THE UK VIA BRUSSELS

Since the launch of their 3 times weekly Night train from Brussels to Prague last year, European sleeper have recently opened bookings for a new winter service from Brussels to Venice via Cologne, Innsbruck and Verona. The service will run 2 times a week in February and March 2025 and is aimed at the Ski and Winter Sports market in the German, Austrian and Italian Alps. To find out more please go to https://www.europeansleeper.eu/ AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT: – Here is a short video clip at https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6zIkGFr_6RE from a German teenager who has spent more than a year living on German trains. He manages to carry out his work as a software developer and then spends his