2023-12-14 18:46:49
In May 1994 the Channel Tunnel opened and with it a first rail link between London and Paris, followed six months later by a London-Brussels one. But we then had to wait a quarter of a century to add a third destination, Amsterdam, which will only reach its full potential in 2025, after extensive work to develop the Dutch station and enable it to quickly accommodate 2 million Eurostar passengers. (formerly Thalys, a subsidiary of SNCF) per year, compared to barely 1 million today.
But as Eurotunnel approaches its 30th anniversary, which will be celebrated next May, its parent company Getlink is promising rapid development of new passenger connections between Britain and a series of major cities on the continent.
Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux at the bottom of the list
Its general director, Yann Leriche, timidly mentions new destinations in France (Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux). But “the most advanced projects concern Switzerland (Geneva, Zurich, Basel), whose public authorities have long relied heavily on the train, and especially Germany (Cologne and Frankfurt)”. Even though the national railway company, Deutsche Bahn, ended up getting tired of it and reassigning the trains it had ordered for a cross-Channel connection to other destinations…
To operate these destinations, which in total could total 4 million passengers, Getlink is counting heavily on the arrival of private operators. As an internal source assures, “this infrastructure manager has been in greater demand in recent years than it had been before, since its creation”.
Competition for Eurostar
Two private companies have already expressed their wish to use the Channel Tunnel for passenger transport. A consortium led by the English Mobico (formerly National Express) and the Spanish family business Cosmen, Evolyn announced in October that it had ordered 12 trains from Alstom, with the aim of connecting London to major continental cities from 2025, with advantageous rates. In particular, it could operate a non-stop London-Paris route. For its part, the Dutch railway operator Heuro wishes to compete with Eurostar on London-Amsterdam, with 15 round trips per day (1).
“We have reduced the commissioning times from ten to five years,” assures Yann Leriche. Market studies have been carried out, as have development projects for the stations concerned, in particular to install customs posts. Work to harmonize standards has been carried out, in conjunction with manufacturers and network managers in the countries concerned. In order to encourage operators to take on these turnkey projects, Getlink has increased its subsidy envelope by 20%, which could amount to 50 million euros over the period 2025-2030.
Increase passenger traffic by half
If Getlink’s strategy bears fruit, the concession company should see passenger traffic, currently 10 million per year, increase by half by 2030. An increase that the tunnel can easily absorb: every day, 400 trains (including freight and transport of passenger vehicles with their occupants) use it, while the infrastructure could accommodate 1,000.
In a context of climate emergency which calls for the development of the cross-Channel rail offer, Yann Leriche is convinced that rail has a real card to play against planes: “In destinations located four hours by train, market shares are balanced between the two modes of transport. » On Paris-London, where the train journey only takes two hours and fifteen minutes, Eurostar now has four times more passengers than the plane.
(1) Heuro also wishes to position itself on the Paris-Amsterdam line.
#direct #trains #London #Switzerland #Germany