There has been plenty of noise made by wannabe rivals who would like a piece of this profitable pie. Virgin Trains, new UK company Gemini Trains, and Evolyn, backed by a Spanish bus company, have all recently announced plans to challenge the incumbent.
All of that has been upended by the announcement that Italian state owned rail company Trenitalia plans to enter the London-Paris market by 2029, in partnership with start-up Evolyn.
Suitable trains? They’ve got them.
The interior of a Frecciarossa high-speed train leaving Gare de Lyon in Paris for Milan (Photo: Michel Stoupak/NurPhoto)Italy has among the most stringent fire safety rules for trains in the world, so compatibility with Channel Tunnel requirements should be achievable. And Trenitalia has a fleet of 30 Frecciarossas rolling off the production lines right now. Anyone who has travelled on one can confirm they are excellent, reliable and comfortable.
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Beyond Paris, the cities already served by Trenitalia – Lyon and Marseille – are mentioned as destinations, although the absence at both of secure platforms and passport control facilities at stations mean we should not be holding our breath for services to either.
The high-speed trains at Milan Central Station (Photo: scaliger/Getty Images)
Nevertheless, it could make operational sense. When the UK’s Office of Rail and Road announced last there was some capacity for train maintenance for a rival to Eurostar at the Temple Mills depot in east London, the question arose: well, where is the rest of the maintenance capacity a rival might need? In Trenitalia’s case that would be Milan, where its Frecciarossa fleet is currently taken care of.
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That Trenitalia is even able to contemplate running such a service is testimony to two decades of remarkable progress of railways in Italy, now one of Europe’s very best countries to take a high-speed train.
Having expanded into France first, then to Spain, it now has London in its sights – and should in no way be underestimated.
Jon Worth is an independent railway policy analyst based in Bourgogne, France. His research and advocacy work focuses on improving cross-border passenger railways in Europe.
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