Trenitalia is Eurostar’s most serious rival yet ...Middle East

For the past 30 years, Eurostar has been sitting pretty. The only operator of long-distance, high-speed trains through the Channel Tunnel, it has been able to do largely as it pleases. In recent years that has meant fare hikes and mothballing stops at Ebbsfleet, Ashford and Calais. 

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.

But they all face a major headache: would anyone lend these firms money to buy a fleet of new trains? Virgin claimed it was seeking to raise £700m, status uncertain.

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.

Finance? Trenitalia is ready to invest €1 billion.

Suitable trains? They’ve got them.

Trenitalia’s sleek Hitachi Frecciarossa 1000 trains have been running in France since 2021. They are compatible with the signalling systems on high-speed lines in France, the UK, and the Channel Tunnel.

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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Trenitalia understandably wants to focus on London-Paris with its initial offer. Ashford and Lille on the core route are also mentioned as options. Ashford in particular – with a huge terminal and excellent rail links across the South East – can relieve the pressure on overcrowded St Pancras. Hitachi’s fast-accelerating, swift-to-board, single-deck trains mean serving interim stops would be no problem.

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.

What about London-Milan, which gets a mention in Trenitalia’s plan? A nine-hour trip on existing infrastructure means this is going to be a connection that is only appealing to holidaymakers, and would run at most a couple of times a day.

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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The only downside would be that a Milano Centrale – London St Pancras service would need passengers to disembark somewhere en route (probably Lille) for passport checks and border controls, with an increase in journey time northbound.

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.

With excellent infrastructure stretching the length of the county between Turin and Naples, via Milan, Florence and Rome, state-owned Trenitalia has transformed itself into a capable and financially strong operation, and has been driven to improve in its national market by private rival Italo.

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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