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Stratford International has never actually served an international train in its life, no matter what its name leads you to believe. It’s the rail network equivalent of claiming to be fluent in Spanish on your CV, despite only ever uttering ‘gracias’ to a waiter after ordering everything else in English. As it turns out, those international trains might actually be on their way, meaning Stratford International is finally about to live up to its name.
Virgin Trains is gearing up to launch a direct rival to Eurostar, and has confirmed it is exploring the idea of stopping its new cross-Channel services at the east London hub. If the plans get green-lit, St Pancras will no longer be the sole gatekeeper of our cheeky continental escapes.
The push has come from East Ham MP Sir Stephen Timms, who’s been banging this drum since the late 1990’s when he chaired Newham’s planning committee. Timms has argued that for east London, ‘it's a big and fast growing commercial opportunity’ and has said how a Stratford spot would ease pressure on an increasingly stretched St Pancras whilst giving the area’s regeneration a boost. The idea has also picked up backing from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which runs the enormous Westfield shopping centres on either side of the city.
A Virgin Group spokesperson said the company is ‘looking forward to exploring additional stops, including Stratford International’ after securing approval from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) to run up to 20 new daily return services through the Channel Tunnel, connecting London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from 2030.
It follows a separate dispute over depot space at Temple Mills in east London, which Eurostar had argued was already at capacity before the ORR ruled that two of its eight underused maintenance lanes could be freed up for Virgin lanes and other new entrants.
Virgin isn’t the only name eyeing up a slice of the cross-Channel market, either. Italy’s state-owned railway Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS Group) is gearing up to launch a service in 2029 while Spanish-backed operator Evolyn and Gemini Trains led by Labour peer Tony Berekely are also both circling the route, so Eurostar’s 30 year monopoly on the Channel Tunnel might not last too much longer either way.
Fancy more on London’s growing rail ambitions? Here’s everything you need to know about London’s potential new direct trains to France.
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