Towards a relaunch of a London-Cologne train?
Soon other operators than Eurostar in the Channel tunnel? Eurotunnel
The idea of an express train between London and Germany, via Brussels, is not new. But what is new is that Eurotunnel owner Getlink is taking the initiative.
Want to read more?
You have read all of your free premium articles for this month. Please become a subscriber to keep reading.
Subscribe now!
Take advantage of our exclusive offer to get full access to all premium content.
Would there still be customs and security control at the station of departure?
Cologne main station is quite crowded, and it is certainly impossible to reserve a platform for such requirements.
If controls are abolished, extending the route to the additional large cities Duesseldorf, Duisburg, Essen and maybe Dortmund would be meaingful, provided tracks can be secured. If Frankfurt, why not proceed via Mannheim to Stuttgart, which is 1h12 from FRA airport station, i.e. 1 hour more from Cologne?
The extremely high track access charges at Eurotunnel are a mayor reason of the small rail traffic between the UK and the Continent, beyond Paris and Brussels. I wonder whether similar charges per train apply to road shuttles between Calais and Folkestone. HS1 is also expensive to use. Eurotunnel would have to accept that travellers over longer distances would pay about the same as to Paris, or less, to compensate for the longer travel time, but other operation costs are higher.
Eurotunnel and HS1 need a broader perspective: With speedy night trains, Madrid, Barcelona, Nice, Milan, Munich, Prague and Berlin certainly are in reach of London, and Kopenhagen will be with the Fehmarn tunnel. Paris – Edinburgh would also be a nice connection but for the limited clearence on Britain’s standard routes. Night trains travel at low costs on French railtracks and would provide less yield per train just due to larger space requirement per passenger, but it is still a business case.