If you’re a fan of speedy and sustainable international travel, then we come bearing some news that’ll be right up your street train track. Virgin Trains are planning to run new direct train services between London and mainland Europe. And the company has recently taken a rather monumental step in the direction of the Channel Tunnelas Virgin have just been given the go ahead to share Eurostar’s rail depot in east London.
Being granted this access to the Temple Mills International depot means that the wheels are officially in motion for Virgin Trains to launch these shiny new services from London to the continent. And whilst there are still a fair few track access and safety hoops to jump through before the trains can actually hit the tracks; the approval of Virgin’s application to share the depot comes as rather huge news in the world of cross-channel travel.
The decision to approve the application came courtesy of the Office of Rail and Roadwho had previously denied similar applications from different companies. If all goes to plan, Virgin is hoping to have the first of its new routes running by 2030. The initial routes would likely whizz passengers from London to the likes of Paris Gare Du Nord, Brussels-Midi, and Amsterdam Centraal (and perhaps have Eurostar quaking in their boots as they do so).
Once the first few routes are up and running, Richard Branson (Founder of the Virgin Group) is also keen to expand the network to Germany and Switzerland. And he’d also supposedly like to run a direct service from London to Disneyland Parisas there’s been a rather large Mickey Mouse-shaped gap in the market since Eurostar stopped its service to Disneyland in 2023. According to The StandardVirgin is also in talks with France’s busiest airport (Paris Charles de Gaulle) about the possibility of running a direct service there from London, which would be the first of its kind.
Eurostar has had a complete monopoly over the Channel Tunnel since it opened in 1994so this news could certainly rock the boat train carriage. It’s likely that having a competitor share the tunnel would encourage Eurostar to lower their priceswhich is a prospect that I’m sure everybody could get on board with. These proposed plans would also mark the first Virgin Trains to return to the track since the company lost its contract to Forward West Coast in 2019.
