A little-known train depot in east London holds the key to more trains running between London and the Continent, it has been revealed.
Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the Spanish-led consortium Evolyn both want to set up rival operations to Eurostar and operate passenger services between St Pancras and mainland Europe via the HS1 high-speed line to the Channel Tunnel.
However this would require them gaining access to the Temple Mills depot in Leyton – said to be the largest train depot in London - used by Eurostar to stable and maintain its trains.
Phil Whittingham, project lead at Virgin, said depot access was “one of the key issues” that had to be resolved before it could launch new routes.
“There is no point buying trains and not being able to maintain them,” he told a meeting of the all-party rail group in Parliament on Tuesday. “Getting access to the depot is really important.”
Virgin wants to “disrupt and grow” the market for international rail travel to and from London.
Eurostar services from London have been running for 30 years, first from Waterloo and, since 2007, from St Pancras.
In May, Eurostar said it wanted to expand its services as it prepared to order up to 50 new trains.
Mr Whittingham said: “We are trying to get people out of aeroplanes and onto rail. For relatively short distances, up to four hours, we think it is really achievable.
“We want to link London to other European countries. We think bringing competition to this route will be critical. We think it will be great for consumers. But this will take considerable investment.”
The Channel Tunnel operator Getlink says the tunnel has the capacity to increase the number of passengers travelling by train between the UK and mainland Europe.
Yann Leriche, chief executive of Getlink, said there was “potential for new routes”, such as to Cologne and Frankfurt in Germany, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland, and Marseille and Bordeaux in France.
He said there was also the potential to use Ebbsfleet and Ashford stations. Eurostar stopped using both in 2020 due to the pandemic.
Mr Leriche said it was “simpler than ever” to open new international routes, and that it could be done in five years – half of how long it took Eurostar to launch its London to Amsterdam service.
Evolyn and Virgin have asked the rail regulator the Office of Rail and Road to intervene in their bid to get access to Temple Mills depot.
According to the Financial Times, neither Virgin nor Evolyn has ordered trains, but are viewed as the most likely challengers to Eurostar because of the amount of time and money they have invested.
Jorge Cosmen, chief executive of Evolyn, admitted it had not made as much progress to date as it hoped in launching new services, but said it was moving forward with procuring trains and securing investment – more than £1bn is needed.
He said: “We are convinced there is a very good opportunity. We really believe that the connection between the UK and the Continent is going to grow. The market is there. With more operators there will be even greater growth.”
He said there was an “opportunity” to use Ashford and Ebbsfleet stations, and that the aim was “not only to go London to Paris but other destinations”, including “other cities in France and Amsterdam”.
He added: “We think there is sufficient interest from other cities, but maybe not on a weekly basis.”
ORR chief executive John Larkinson said that Evolyn “hadn’t made the progress they hoped they were going to make on access to Temple Mills depot”.
He said: “Temple Mills depot is a crunch-point. If you want to put your trains somewhere overnight or maintain your trains, Temple Mills depot is an important facility.
“It’s run by Eurostar. Effectively, if you want access to that depot, your first point of call is to go and talk to Eurostar. If you can’t reach agreement, ultimately you can appeal to the ORR. We have power to direct access to that facility.
“The fundamental issue that both Evolyn and Virgin have mentioned is: just how much capacity is the at that depot? That is the area that we are working on at the moment.
“There is certainly no intention to make this a cumbersome process but it needs to be a fair process, and it needs to be an evidence-led process. It needs to be robust against any challenge.”
