Eurotunnel operator offers to subsidise new cross-Channel rail services
Getlink chief puts forward €50mn pot for companies considering launching rivals to Eurostar
The operator of the Channel Tunnel has offered €50mn in support to encourage companies to open new cross-Channel rail services to rival Eurostar.
Yann Leriche, Getlink chief executive, said at least five companies are “seriously” interested in starting new passenger trains between the UK and Europe, and that the barriers to entry have decreased in recent years.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, a consortium backed by the largest shareholders in Mobico, formerly known as National Express, and Dutch start-up Heuro have all said they are considering launching services, and Leriche said there are at least two other contenders.
“We have a lot of room, including at peak times. I think there is a potential to have more high speed trains and freight trains,” he told the Financial Times.
Getlink, formerly known as Eurotunnel, manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel and also operates the LeShuttle passenger and freight trains.
Leriche believes there is space for more than one new operator, and the money could be split between new entrants. Overall, around 400 trains a day use the tunnel, which has capacity for 1,000. The actual usage is below the forecasts when the tunnel was opened 30 years ago.
Getlink and HS1, which operates the high-speed lines from Kent to London, have long pushed for more operators to launch services.
Leriche said Getlink has earmarked at least €50mn to spend over the next five years in direct subsidies to support any new operator launching a service.
The money would be available once the new service is launched to help operators with the initial high running costs of launching a new train service. Getlink previously supported Eurostar when it began nonstop trains between London and Amsterdam.
“There are still hurdles [to launching a new service], but they used to be quite high, and now they are very limited,” Leriche said.
Among the biggest challenges to any new entrant is the cost of ordering modified trains to comply with the tunnel’s stringent safety rules, including increased fire resistance.
Leriche said this critical hurdle has been cleared after Alstom’s new TGV trains were certified to run through the tunnel, meaning a new operator could buy trains off the shelf, “massively” reducing expenditure.
Getlink has also worked with national regulators to streamline the regulatory process to certify new operators, and believes there is demand for 4mn passenger journeys a year from Germany and Switzerland, on top of Eurostar’s current routes from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.
Evolyn, a Spanish-led project backed by the billionaire Cosmen industrialist family, an investor in Mobico, has announced a preliminary agreement, but not a final deal, to buy new trains from Alstom. Mobico itself held talks over joining the consortium, but opted not to.
Separately, Leriche said he is confident there will be no significant disruption to passenger services from the introduction of new EU biometric border controls due to be introduced this year.
The UK’s leading logistics body has warned Channel ports could “grind to a halt” as a result of the control, which will require passengers to register details including fingerprints at passport control.
Leriche said Getlink has invested €80mn in new border facilities, and has the space to handle the new logistics.
Getlink is also considering opening new inland lorry terminals, to allow vehicles to leapfrog congestion in Kent and northern France.
This would mark a significant shift for the company, which currently only operates stations at the near the entrances of the tunnel near the English Channel.
As Getlink diversifies its business, it has also held talks with the UK and French governments over adding more cables to carry electricity to connect energy markets in the UK and the continent.