Experts warn London to Berlin trains 'might not happen'

Metro

3 days ago

Train experts have said that plans for a direct route between the UK and Germany should be taken with 'a pinch of salt'.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and the German Chancellor Friedrich Merz yesterday signed an agreement which aims to create direct train services between London and Berlin.
The Kensington treaty, which also included e-gates for frequent travellers, school exchange programmes and defence, aims to begin services within the next decade.
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A joint task force has been set up to smooth barriers that block direct train travel, including border control, commercial and technical issues, as trains and tracks can be different between the countries.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said UK passengers could be able to visit iconic Berlin sights directly by rail 'in just a matter of years.'
She said: 'This landmark agreement – part of a new treaty the Prime Minister will sign with Chancellor Merz today – has the potential to fundamentally change how millions of people travel between our two countries, offering a faster, more convenient and significantly greener alternative to flying.'
Other possible routes include Frankfurt, Cologne and Geneva.
However, an expert in European rail travel, Mark Smith, who runs the popular Man in Seat 61 website, said a direct link between London and Berlin is unlikely.
'If you're running several trains a day from Frankfurt or Cologne, you can probably justify that. One train a day to Berlin that would take all day, you probably can't justify that either,' Mark told Metro.
'I think it is unlikely that an operator will find a commercial way to run a train all the way to and from Berlin with full customs, border control and passport checks located in Berlin.
London – Paris: 2h 16m
London – Brussels: Less than two hours
London – Amsterdam: 3h 50m
London – Lille: 1h 20m
London – Rotterdam: 3h 31m
'As distance increases, the track access costs rise, the number of journeys you get out of the rolling stop dramatically reduces – to Berlin, you are basically going to get one journey a day out of a very expensive piece of kit.
'And yet, the money you can get from London to Berlin isn't that much greater than London to Brussels because a one-directional flight, which you're competing with, is about the same cost.'
A journey between the capitals would only be possible if the government poured money into subsidising the route or it was taken over by an operator with enough train stock, he said.
Due to platform and rolling stock limitations, there might only be one train a day, but there would still have to be border checks and separated facilities at stations as the UK is outside the Schengen zone.
But Mark did say people appear to be eager for more train routes after a new eight-hour train from Paris to Berlin launched in December, which is 'heavily booked.'
'This is because people are fed up with air travel in airports, and they want to travel more sustainably,' he said. 'But that Paris to Berlin train doesn't need border controls.
'There is demand for longer-distance travel, but it is difficult to serve commercially from the UK with all the border controls.
'I give credence to a train to Cologne and Frankfurt. Eurostar have actually said they want to run to Frankfurt and Geneva, and the run to Frankfurt goes via Cologne.
'It's not going to be easy to find secure platform space at Frankfurt and Geneva, but Cologne is going to be a real problem, and they haven't got a solution for that yet.'
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