Eurostar has mentioned it plans to launch direct prepare companies from London to Germany and Switzerland.
A fleet of as much as 50 new trains, costing round €2bn (£1.7bn), is deliberate to be up and working by the early 2030s, the agency introduced.
Travel time between London and Frankfurt can be about 5 hours, and round 5 hours and 20 minutes to Geneva.
Eurostar’s boss mentioned there was robust demand for prepare journey throughout Europe, regardless of the challenges of upper operational prices and inflation squeezing buyer budgets.
“A new golden age of international sustainable travel is here,” mentioned chief government Gwendoline Cazenave, including that clients had been “wanting to go further by rail than ever before”.
The agency can also be planning for the proposed new fleet to service a direct line to Geneva from each Amsterdam and Brussels.
It mentioned it was working with companions to get the brand new strains up and working.
It will not be clear if the routes to Frankfurt and Geneva will embrace stops on the way in which for passengers to board or go away.
The announcement got here because the agency reported a 5% enhance in passengers in 2024 in contrast with the earlier 12 months.
It noticed a file 19.5 million passengers in 2024 throughout all of its companies.
The firm additionally mentioned it would enhance the frequency of its hottest route between London and Paris.
Currently, Eurostar’s London trains go to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and throughout the ski season, the French Alps.
It additionally runs trains inside France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Eurostar presently has a monopoly on the trains by means of the Channel Tunnel.
London St Pancras Highspeed – which owns the station and operates the monitor to the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone – desires to draw totally different prepare operators to supply a spread of companies in Europe.
Getlink, which owns the Channel Tunnel, signed an settlement in February with London St Pancras Highspeed to extend the variety of companies working to Europe.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cded0zypxl7o