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Eurostar plans to buy up to 50 new trains and is considering launching more international routes from London to take advantage of “huge demand” for rail travel across Europe.
Gwendoline Cazenave, chief executive of the train operator, told the Financial Times the company was in “a race” to increase capacity and that this would require more space at some stations.
“There is huge demand for our services,” she said.
Eurostar merged with Thalys, a train company serving France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, to form Eurostar Group in 2022. It is one of Europe’s biggest high-speed rail operators.
The enlarged company is in talks with train manufacturers for an order for up to 50 new trains, Cazenave said, adding that these would replace older rolling stock and increase the size of the fleet by a third from 51 to 67 trains.
Cazenave said Eurostar was “definitely” considering opening new routes from London to Europe, adding to its current services between London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels.
“With a new fleet we will study new routes, new European routes . . . I think by the end of the year or early 2025 we will be able to say more.”
Eurostar’s cross-Channel service was having significant problems getting passengers through some of its stations, including St Pancras in London, largely because of passport checks that were introduced in 2021 after Brexit.
But Cazenave said these snags had been resolved, with average queueing times back to pre-Brexit levels, thanks to new passport gates and governments providing more border control officers.
Eurostar’s terminal in Amsterdam is being expanded, while Cazenave said she expected St Pancras and Paris Gare du Nord to be redesigned to make more space over the next five years. “At the stage of the new fleet [arriving], we will have bigger stations,” she said.
Still, Eurostar faces a potential headache from new EU biometric border checks, due to be introduced this year.
Cazenave said she was confident passengers would not face big queues, and that the owners of St Pancras plan to redesign parts of the station to make more space for travellers going through the extra border checks.
Eurostar also faces potential competition on the cross-channel route.
The operator of the Channel Tunnel told the FT this month that five companies — including Virgin Group, a consortium backed by the largest shareholders in Mobico, formerly known as National Express, and Dutch start-up Heuro — were “seriously” interested in launching train services between the UK and Europe.
About 400 trains a day use the tunnel, including freight and car-carrying services. It has capacity for 1,000.
During the pandemic, Eurostar was forced to shrink to avert bankruptcy and stopped using two stations — Ebbsfleet and Ashford — in south-east England.
Cazenave said that while Eurostar had no plans to reopen these stations, it is focusing on growth following a strong performance in 2023. “When I see people say Eurostar is shrinking it drives me crazy, because it’s really not true,” she added.
Passenger numbers rose from 14.8mn in 2022 to just under 19mn last year, driving a 26 per cent increase in revenues to €2bn. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation climbed 8 per cent to €423mn.
The company has reorganised and cut its debt from €964mn to €650mn over the past year.
Cazenave said one of the most important factors in choosing a manufacturer would be how quickly the new trains could be delivered.
“It’s a race. The sooner the better. The market is pushing so hard, that we really need to see which manufacturer is going to be able to be ready as quick as possible.”
