The president of Getlink, operator of the Channel Tunnel, announced that the Franco-British transport company was considering the creation of two new lines from London to Bordeaux…to the Côte d’Azur.
Soon more English tourists in France? Established since 1994, the line between Paris and London, via the Eurostar, may see other routes between France and the United Kingdom set up in the coming years. In an interview with Europe1 on Thursday, Jacques Gounon, president of Getlink – operator of the Channel Tunnel – announced that the Franco-British transport company could put new lines into service.
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«A few years ago, Eurostar developed a London-Amsterdam route which is going very well, which was in addition to London-Paris and London-Brussels, emphasizes Jacques Gounon. We work in London-Bordeaux, and in my opinion, there is a futures market (…). which is London-Côte d’Azur because (it) remains a center of attraction for the British.According to him, the debates around “decarbonization” and “private jets” which have animated the public debate in recent weeks are pushing for such projects. “In the field of railways and Franco-British diplomatic relations, the slightest progress is a bit of technique, a lot of convictions, and months, months… Unfortunately, it is a five-year deadline”, analyzes the boss of Getlink. Contacted by Le Figaro, Eurostar only indicates that it wantsfocus all (their) efforts on our main routes (London to Paris and London to Brussels or Amsterdam) as well as on the resumption of activity following the difficult period that we have gone through, in order to ensure optimal service to our customers.»
The impact of the pandemic and Brexit
At the end of August, the railway company had specified that it was going to stop direct links between London and DisneyLand Paris next summer because of the pandemic and Brexit. “We will review our options for 2024 over the next year.“, specified transport company. “We need to focus on our core routes to ensure we can continue to provide a high level of service and experienceadded Eurostar, explaining that passengers can still get to the amusement park thanks to its trains going from Paris to Lille from London.