Virgin Trains to make a comeback challenging Eurostar on Channel Tunnel route

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have published a letter stating that Virgin Trains has been approved to share the Temple Mills depot with Eurostar, following a previous report stating that there was extra capacity in the depot for a competing service or Eurostar expansion.

Artist interpretation of a Virgin train at St Pancras International. Courtesy of Virgin.

This landmark judgement by the ORR will mean that Eurostar will lose its monopoly on Channel Tunnel passenger services between the UK and Europe, which it has held since 1994 when the tunnel first opened.

Applications from Evolyn, Gemini Trains and Trenitalia were rejected on the basis that there was insufficient capacity at Temple Mills for their service proposals.

UK portal for the Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994 and has been monopolised by Eurostar since for passenger services outside of Le Shuttle. Courtesy of Chris Heaton.

The Channel Tunnel routes are vital in connecting the UK with the wider European rail network, services from Eurostar include London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, with the potential for future route expansion.

When the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1) opened in 2007, three stations along the line were opened, those being Ashford, Ebbsfleet and Stratford Internationals terminating at St Pancras International in London. This also brought along the Southeastern Highspeed services between St Pancras and Kent.

Ashford and Ebbsfleet received regular Eurostar service to wider Europe until post-Brexit when the international service was withdrawn, leaving only the Southeastern Highspeed services to Ramsgate, Margate and Dover, this means that these stations have been under utilised.

It's not only these stations that are underutilised, recent studies have shown that the entirety of HS1 and the Channel Tunnel are rarely using their available capacity for both freight and passenger services, this has been down to the afforementioned withdrawal of services, alongside the lack of daily services from Eurostar, only 5 services in each direction operate daily under Eurostar.

This alongside aging rolling stock (the Class 373 are over 30 years old) and rising fares (150% that of air travel) on Eurostar services have led to the demand for more competition in recent years. This has all culminated in the ORR's decision to allow Virgin Trains to make a comeback to the UK rail scene and challenge Eurostar on Channel Tunnel services.

A view of the Temple Mills depot. The only depot in the UK to support European trains. Courtesy of Robert Lamb.

There are a few reasons as to why this decision has been a long time coming, and why another competing service has only been approved 30 years on from the tunnel's opening.

Firstly, Temple Mills depot near Stratford is the only depot in the UK that can support European trains, this brings about a limited capacity for how many trains can be stored in the UK and thus how many services can be operated starting from St Pancras. As it stands, there is very little capacity remaining in Temple Mills depot and this is why only Virgin Trains was accepted. Construction of a new depot could take many years and have high costs, as a new depot would have to be built to house more services due to the space constraints of evergrowing Stratford.

Secondly, St Pancras International is also running out of capacity. There are only eight platforms that can support HS1 services and only five of these are long enough to support international trains, as they are much longer than trains you would see on the wider British rail network. Any dramatic increase in services would require further expansion of St Pancras or the creation of a new terminal, potentially underground.

Due to these reasons, it has been near impossible to create competition on the Channel Tunnel until now, and the approval of Virgin to challenge Eurostar on services to Europe is landmark decision which will result in new investment into this crucial rail link.

Virgin Trains have many ambitions for their services between the UK and wider Europe, other than the investment in new rolling stock for the operation of services, Virgin also plan to bring back international services to the previously mentioned Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations, which will be a huge boost to the local areas in Kent & south Essex and provide a reliable international service that does not require travelling into London.

Virgin's Channel Tunnel services will mirror those of Eurostar, serving Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, there are also future plans to expand services further into Germany, across France and into Switzerland.

This decision also marks the comeback of Virgin Trains to the UK rail scene after the company was disqualified from bidding on their West Coast services in 2019, after serving the West Coast Main Line to Glasgow for two decades up until that point. Virgin Trains at the time were known for comfortable, innovative train operations and also introduced the famous Class 390 Pendolinos and Voyagers which continue to be a staple of high speed rail travel on the British rail network.

Virgin Trains aim to start Channel Tunnel services in 2030, once they have received approvals from the rail regulators in France, Belgium and the Netherlands and once the procurement of rolling stock has been completed.