Cross-channel train operator Eurostar has revealed plans to run double-decker trains on its network for the first time, after it confirmed it will order up to 50 trains from manufacturer Alstom.
The expansion plans would include investing heavily in a crucial London depot, and will see its fleet increasing in size by nearly a third.
Questions remain over whether the facility has enough space for both Eurostar and potential rival operators to use it.
In the €2bn (£1.74bn) deal, confirmed on Wednesday 22nd October, Eurostar has ordered 30 “Celestia” trains, with the option for 20 more. Eurostar expects to start using the first six trains in 2031, which is an incredible amount of time to wait.
Each train is planned to be 200m long. If two are run together, as happens with the current rolling stock, the resulting 400m service would have space for 1,080 passengers. These would be the first double-decker high-speed trains to run through the Channel Tunnel.
Eurostar’s chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said she was “particularly proud to bring double-decker trains to the UK for the very first time”, adding they would bring “exceptional comfort”. Eurostar carried 19.5 million passengers last year. Ms Cazenove said the company aimed to grow this number to 30 million.
The double-decker train deal comes after Eurostar announced an expansion plan in June that includes new routes to Geneva and Frankfurt from London. The new trains will need to go through a years-long certification process for use in the Channel Tunnel, in all the countries where Eurostar operates. They will be 4.33metres high, just 16cm higher than the E320 models currently in use.
While the high-speed line between St Pancras and the Channel Tunnel was built to European standards enabling it to be used by taller trains, as double-decker trains are common on the Continent, double-deckers becoming the norm across the Britain’s rail network seems unlikely due to the height of victorian tunnels.
Eurostar also said it would invest €80m developing the Temple Mills depot in London, which is the only depot in the UK able to accomodate the larger trains used in continental Europe.
That depot, owned by the government’s London St Pancras Highspeed organisation, is currently exclusively used by Eurostar. Eurostar is also the only company currently offering cross-Channel rail services between London and Paris, but others want to set up rival services.
Those companies include Spanish start-up Evolyn, Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin and a partnership between Gemini Trains and Uber. The regulator is expected to make a decision on access to the depot within the next few weeks.
