British business travellers could be boarding a direct train from London to Cologne by 2030, after start-up operator Gemini Trains vowed to break Eurostar’s 32-year grip on the Channel Tunnel with new routes, new stations and introductory Paris fares of about £59.
The British-based company, which says it is backed by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, wants to run rival services to Paris, including Disneyland Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport, alongside the Cologne route. It then aims to expand to Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, putting three of Germany’s biggest commercial centres within direct rail reach of London for the first time.
For firms trading with the Rhineland, the difference would be stark. Gemini says London to Cologne would take about four hours, similar to Eurostar’s London to Amsterdam service. Today the same trip can take up to six hours with at least one change.
With capacity at St Pancras under pressure, Gemini plans to make Stratford International its main London hub, with trains also calling at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, where Eurostar suspended services in 2020. That would restore a direct continental link for Kent’s business community after more than a decade of lobbying. The company has also signed a ticketing and co-branding partnership with Uber, building on its order for a fleet of Siemens high-speed trains announced last year.
Gemini is set to lease eight electric 200m trains carrying more than 550 passengers each, running about eleven services a day by 2030 before “rapid expansion”. Eurostar operates about 26 daily services from London. Tickets will be dynamically priced, with standard class promising “more comfortable seats, good wifi and mood lighting” and business class offering food and a privacy screen.
For more than 30 years Eurostar has been the tunnel’s sole passenger operator, and the crossing still runs at about 50 per cent capacity. But the ground is shifting. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains, which has ordered 12 Alstom trains for a planned 2030 launch, has secured access to Temple Mills, the east London depot that is the only site in Britain able to house and maintain cross-Channel trains, a decision the regulator said unlocks around £700 million of investment. Italy’s Trenitalia and Spanish start-up Evolyn are also circling, after the rail regulator opened the door to Channel Tunnel competition last year.
Gemini missed out on Temple Mills but said it was speaking to the Department for Transport about a potential new depot at Ashford, and would consider sites in Belgium or Germany.
“Sometimes we think of ourselves as reincarnations of those early day Victorian pioneers,” said Adrian Quine, the chief executive. “Despite having a solid team of experts Gemini Trains is very much a disruptor operator which constantly challenges the status quo.”
He added: “The forecast growth through the Channel Tunnel is enormous, yet only 50 per cent of the slots on the track are currently used. Eurostar, a monopoly operator, has become lacklustre and very expensive. We will shake things up by offering new routes, new stations, new trains, new interiors, new cheaper fares and encouraging people to shift from plane to train.
“For too long there has been no choice but Eurostar, who in 32 years have opened up virtually no new routes and in fact have cut some. Rail is one of the last great industries that has not been liberalised.”
The incumbent is not standing still. Eurostar is preparing to invest £1.7 billion in a fleet of 50 double-decker trains, enabling direct services to Geneva and to Frankfurt via Cologne by 2031, and a report commissioned by the company projects passenger numbers on London routes will rise by 50 per cent over the next decade.
Gwendoline Cazenave, the chief executive of Eurostar, said: “The UK now needs a bold vision to match the private investment on the table – more depot capacity, a bold expansion of St Pancras and a seamless border. Now is the time to act to ensure Britain plays a leading role in Europe’s high-speed rail future.”
For SMEs weary of pricey Paris fares and awkward connections to Germany, competition in the tunnel cannot come soon enough.
