Swiss Railways train in Zurich Station
We have some fairly positive news to report this month, beginning with:
RUNWAYS TO RAILWAYS : UNLOCKING THE GROWTH POTENTIAL OF THE CHANNEL TUNNEL
Monday 31st March – 6pm to 8pm in London – The Campaign for Better Transport will be holding a panel discussion about how the UK can make better use of International Rail. See below to register for this free event.
RESTORING INTERNATIONAL SERVICES FROM ASHFORD & EBBSFLEET
A group of Kent & Sussex MPs have met with Eurostar urging them to carry out a proper assessment of consumer demand for train services serving these 2 stations in Kent. They also met with Virgin & the Rail Minister who confirmed they were both keen to see international services restored to the 2 Kent stations.
ORR – “THE REGULATOR” IS HELPING TO REMOVING ANOTHER BARRIER PREVENTING VIRGIN & EVOLYN STARTING NEW SERVICES FROM LONDON
Last year Virgin & Evolyn made a formal Section 17 depot access application to the ORR (The Office of Rail & Road) for permission to use the International Depot at Stratford for train-preparation & servicing. Eurostar then claimed that there was no space for another operator and also claimed that ORR have no power to make such a decision. The ORR have now ruled that they have the legal authority to make this decision and have appointed an independent expert to investigate & report. They then hope to make a decision later this year. We predict that they will rule that there is enough space, but, for only one new operator.
MORE EUROPEAN DESTINATIONS BECOMES GOVERNMENT POLICY
Lord Hendy – the Rail Minister stated in Parliament on 25th February “The Dft is working as hard as it can to increase the number of European destinations accessible through Eurotunnel”
AND NOW THE SWISS WANT TO COME TO LONDON
Now that the owners of HS1 and Getlink (who own the channel tunnel) are working together to develop more passenger services to/from Europe, our Department of Transport officials have been discussing with Swiss Federal Railways the feasibility of direct services between London and Switzerland. Direct high-speed trains from London to Geneva or Basel could offer journey times of just under 6 hours. See here for more details from Swiss Info: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/society/could-a-direct-high-speed-train-link-between-switzerland-and-london-soon-be-a-reality/49071586
“QUITE A LOT HAS BEEN GOING ON RECENTLY”