| Re: Virgin Cross Channel? Posted by John D at 11:17, 18th August 2026 |     |
Can't see how there's enough market (or capacity) to support Eurostar, Trenitalia and Virgin.
I wonder whether it's a front operation for DB, Renfe, or just an opportunistic play to get licenses and trains in play which can then be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
I wonder whether it's a front operation for DB, Renfe, or just an opportunistic play to get licenses and trains in play which can then be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
The trains for TrenItalia France appear to be common type (Hitachi made Frecciarossa 1000) as used on Paris-Marseille, Paris-Milan etc so could easily be reallocated.
Obviously the market will determine the volume (within limits) depending on the ticket price
Ouigo, Iryo, Avlo in Spain have some tickets below €20. Of course operating costs with channel tunnel, and security will be more, but if some tickets are nearer £50 then clearly volume will be much more than current expensive fares.
My own hunch is TrenItalia will try and build market share from its 2029 launch, to get a foothold before Virgin starts year later, and before Eurostar gets any new trains.
It would of course be possible to reinstate or add security at the stations with International platforms currently not used by International trains (Stratford, Ebbsfleet, Ashford). And I could easily forsee Stratford getting trains, indeed I have even seen a suggestion that TrenItalia intends to use Stratford, then run empty to the Camden spur for reversal to avoid St Pancras fees. Presumably there is trade off between St Pancras fees and cost of staffing Stratford International
| Re: Virgin Cross Channel? Posted by grahame at 11:12, 18th August 2026 | |
Can't see how there's enough market (or capacity) to support Eurostar, Trenitalia and Virgin.
I wonder whether it's a front operation for DB, Renfe, or just an opportunistic play to get licenses and trains in play which can then be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Incidentally, took the Eurostar from Amsterdam to London last week. I appreciate it's summer but was surprised to see the train so busy - my carriage was probably 75% on leaving Amsterdam and full by Lille. Dutch passport control was glacially slow however, presumably due to the new EU system and understaffing as no queues for the UK checks. Train was 20 mins leaving as a result. They are going to need a much bigger terminal to deal with more than one train at a time.
I wonder whether it's a front operation for DB, Renfe, or just an opportunistic play to get licenses and trains in play which can then be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Incidentally, took the Eurostar from Amsterdam to London last week. I appreciate it's summer but was surprised to see the train so busy - my carriage was probably 75% on leaving Amsterdam and full by Lille. Dutch passport control was glacially slow however, presumably due to the new EU system and understaffing as no queues for the UK checks. Train was 20 mins leaving as a result. They are going to need a much bigger terminal to deal with more than one train at a time.
The ... slowness ... of EU checks compared to UK ones, and the EU checks first, means that you queue at the bottleneck and if the UK agents are then busy anywhere between 5% and 95% of their time it makes no difference to the queueing time for them.
My reading of the other applications is that they are looking at other termini such as Frankfurt, Zurich and Disneyland. And there's the Ryanair application for such services as from London (Emerson Park) to Berlin (Pasewalk) which would serve more modest terminals in the general region of a major city. There could be a market, I think.
| Re: Virgin Cross Channel? Posted by Noggin at 10:59, 18th August 2026 | |
Can't see how there's enough market (or capacity) to support Eurostar, Trenitalia and Virgin.
I wonder whether it's a front operation for DB, Renfe, or just an opportunistic play to get licenses and trains in play which can then be auctioned off to the highest bidder?
Incidentally, took the Eurostar from Amsterdam to London last week. I appreciate it's summer but was surprised to see the train so busy - my carriage was probably 75% on leaving Amsterdam and full by Lille. Dutch passport control was glacially slow however, presumably due to the new EU system and understaffing as no queues for the UK checks. Train was 20 mins leaving as a result. They are going to need a much bigger terminal to deal with more than one train at a time.
| Re: Virgin Cross Channel? Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 14:09, 17th August 2026 | |
No problem, GBM: here is probably the best Coffee Shop forum board to post about journeys starting (or proposed to start) in the UK.
CfN.
| Virgin Cross Channel? Posted by GBM at 13:04, 17th August 2026 | |
From the BBC
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjrvx4yye81o
Virgin's plans to run rail services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam have moved closer after it was granted track access by the UK regulator.
The company has been given approval to run up to 20 daily return services through the Channel Tunnel by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), with the agreement running from 1 October 2030 to 31 December 2040.
..................snip...............
Apologies to mods.
Please move to a more appropriate thread somewhere please!
