For Londoners, mainland Europe is just one train ride away. Heck, the Eurostar makes cross-Channel travel so easy for people living in the capital, they can hop over to Paris in the morning and be back in the UK before dinner. It’s not so convenient for anyone who has to travel several hours to get to London St Pancras in the first place, but that may soon change as two cities further north could get their own direct trains to Europe.
Birmingham and Manchester could get routes to mainland Europe thanks to Virgin. Richard Branson’s company is one of several European train operators bidding to create a train service to rival the Eurostar and end its monopoly of cross-Channel services. If Virgin gets approved as a competitor, it wants to include Birmingham and Manchester in its planned routes to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
In a submission to the Office of Rail Road (ORR) back in July, Branson wrote that Virgin would explore ways ‘to enhance onward connectivity to the wider UK rail network’ if it’s chosen. The trains would have to run via the West Coast Main Line before diverting across north London to join the Channel Tunnel route at Stratford.
Virgin also reportedly wants to reopen Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International stations, which have both been shut since Eurostar services were suspended there in 2020. Other bidders for Eurostar competition Gemini Trains and Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane have similar ambitions.
If Virgin wins the bid, it’ll run 20 daily services from St Pancras to Paris and Amsterdam via Brussels within the next five years, with potential for additional destinations in Germany and Switzerland. The ORR is expected to decide which company will rival Eurostar by October 31.
ICYMI: The full list of UK travellers that are NOT affected by new EU border rules.
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