MP´s in the UK have had meetings with the UK government, Eurostar(the current high speed train operator between London St.Pancras and Paris, and Brussels) plus Virgin who aspires to operate high speed train services between the UK and continental Europe. These meetings have concerned the absence of HS trains that stop at the Kent stations of Ebbsfleet and Ashford. This leaves potential customers from South East England for the trains without any other option except travelling into London to catch the existing HS services.This is after the UK Prime Minister spoke on the subject in Parliament on 8th January 2025.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2025/01/09/sir-kier-starmer-wants-eurostar-to-restart-kent-services/
One way to solve this problem would be the UK government insisting to Eurostar that it reinstates those stopping trains in some form. This could prove difficult as Eurostar is a (mostly) French company owned by SNCF - the French national train operator. However, we now have Virgin, as well as other companies, wishing to establish high speed train services to continental Europe from London. This could provide the UK government,or whoever the licensing authority may be, with the opportunity of reinstating these services without recourse to Eurostar. It would also provide needed competition on the routes already in existence, with the possibility of adding more destinations from London - be they with UK companies or other European ones.
To achieve this other aspects of the operation must be looked at. (a) The capacity for added volumes of passengers has to be increased at St.Pancras. The present capacity to process passengers through passport control stands at about 1800 persons per hour. With remodelling of the concourse at St.Pancras this could be increased up to 5000 persons per hour. With that done then competition with two new operators is quite possible.
The second problem (b) arises from the increase in demand for stabling and maintenance of the train sets needed to service that demand. At the moment the depot which provides that service is Temple Mills. It is owned by Eurostar so would be in direct conflict with any new competing train companies wishing to use its premises. However, if the government so demanded then Eurostar would have to open its doors to competing rail services. But would there then be sufficient room for other companies´ trains?
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2024/12/17/another-barrier-to-channel-tunnel-rail-competition-expected-to-be-removed/
Looking at Temple Mills depot
to see if it can be increased in capacity for high speed trains is a
must. This blogger supposes the interested parties are already looking into that
question. According to Wikipedia the previous depot was at North Pole on
both sides of the Great Western Line opposite Old Oak Common depot.
That depot was used when the HS Eurostars ran into Waterloo station as
their destination. However, with the destination change to St.Pancras it
proved to be unworkable for HS trains to use North Pole depot.
I would think it safe to say that with the tunnelling works from Old Oak
Common to Euston there would be no problem linking the line to HS1 to
facilitate workings into/out of St.Pancras if that were so needed.
Wikipedia goes on to say that the depot at Old Oak Common was called the Old Oak Common HST Depot
but was closed in 2018. This closure was to make way for the development of
the HS2 project. Thus, it should be considered that with some investigation and
imagination together with some development, space could be obtained for
the existing and two future operators on HS1. This assumes that the
maintenance depots have to be placed in London. Somebody has already
indicated that Ashford itself could also provide a depot. So the problem can
be solved with Temple Mills, North Pole and Old Oak Common plus options such as Ashford.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2025/03/18/access-to-temple-mills-depot-vital-for-cross-channel-newcomers/
The other question is if stops en route to the Chunnel can be
reinstated. In his comments made 18-12-24, Alex McWhirter in his news
piece in Business Traveller, “Another barrier to Channel Tunnel rail competition expected to be removed,” pointed out that “……Eurostar was on the verge of bankruptcy during the pandemic. Only at the last minute, according to France 24, did its shareholders step in with an extra Euros 300 million of funding.But this funding was on condition that Eurostar lowered its costs, made
some staff redundant and suspended service to “regional train stations.”
This is why Eurostar does not stop in Kent.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2024/12/17/another-barrier-to-channel-tunnel-rail-competition-expected-to-be-removed/#comments
This total absence of service should be considered as unacceptable to the British Government
and to potential passengers from South East England. If this Labour
Government were minimally interventionalist then it would maintain a small stake in the
infrastructure of HS1, the stations (Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford)
and the three aforementioned depots to ensure access and “fair play”.
New operators, especially, should have as a condition of operation that
they offer specific minimal services, at least, from those intermediate stations in Stratford and
Kent, as well as Lille. The programming of such services should be left to the operators but with minimum frequencies, at least, as set by the government or licensing authority. Maybe
Eurostar is stuck with its limiting condition of not operating from "regional stations" but new operators are
not subject to the same. Service and Competition should be the watchwords, and complied with.
https://www.businesstraveller.com/business-travel/2025/03/10/virgin-trains-reveals-plans-for-cross-channel-services/
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