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Could we be about to enter a new ‘golden age’ for train travel? The Eurostar thinks so, as the rail operator has just revealed plans to launch direct trains from London St Pancras to Germany and Switzerland. Travellers could be arriving in Frankfurt for kaffee und kuchen by train as soon as the ‘early 2030s’.
Within the next decade, a fleet of up to 50 new trains – costing around £1.7 billion – will carry passengers from Old Blighty directly to the land of chocolate, cheese fondue and very expensive watches, with routes expected to reach Geneva and Frankfurt from London St Pancras.
It will take about five hours to get to Frankfurt from London, and five hours and 20 minutes to reach Geneva. Eurostar hasn’t decided what, if any, stops these trains will make, or if passengers will be able to get off in other places.
Eurostar’s chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said many passengers are prepared to take longer train journeys nowadays rather than flying as they ‘want to travel more sustainably’. She said there would be plenty of demand from leisure and business travellers to the ‘big financial hubs’ of Frankfurt and Geneva.
There’s still a way to go before these trains can become a reality, as the operator would need to create sufficient passenger space at the stations, install new border checkpoints, and secure access to tracks.
It’s hoped the new fleet will also bolster existing Eurostar routes, and could increase its daily return frequencies between London and Paris from 17 to 20. The company also confirmed it will add a fourth daily return service between St Pancras and Amsterdam from September 9, and a fifth from mid-December.
ICYMI: Uber has revealed plans to run trains to Europe from Stratford in east London.
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