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Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Eurostar needs as much competition as possible
At least it didn't decide that the wrong type of snow made it impossible to run any more trains, or that too many leaves on the line made it far too risky to have an extra operator. Even so, the oddly named Office of Rail and Road, or ORR, last week decided that there is only enough depot space for one extra competitor to Eurostar to run trains from Britain to the rest of the Continent. The other companies queuing up to offer a service will have to be turned away. That is crazy. The rail service needs more competition not less – and anything that gets in the way of that should be fixed before the service gets any worse. Few of us were probably aware of the ORR until last week, although the regulator has more than 350 staff doing something or other, and a budget of more than £40m a year to spend. Last week, however, it made a significant decision that will have an impact on anyone who travels between Britain and the rest of Europe by train. A whole series of rival companies had been preparing to offer rival services to Eurostar running trains through the Channel Tunnel. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains was pitching to run a service on the route, and so were Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley, as well as Trenitalia, the main operating arm of the Italian state rail operator. If the tunnel was genuinely opened up, plenty of other companies might have come into the market, such as Germany's Deutsche Bhan, which has expressed an interest in the past; one of the other rail companies; or indeed an airline company such as Air France KLM, which could use the train route to feed long-haul passengers into its Paris hub. St Pancras International could have been humming with new competitors pitching different possibilities. But the ORR has decided that there is only enough space at the depot for one extra competitor on the route. 'The assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar, to grow,' it concluded. At a stroke, the vision of lots of new players has been dashed. Of course in fairness, the ORR is just doing its job, and no one would want to question its decision about the capacity at the depot. It is important that all the trains are properly maintained, and if there is not enough space for more than one extra operator at the moment, then clearly that is a problem. And yet, looking at the bigger picture, it is also completely ridiculous. If we need more depot space, then surely we should just build it. Likewise, if we need another platform, or an extra stop along the route through Kent, or even just space for another Pret so the passengers can pick up a sandwich before they hop on a train to the Continent, then we should build that as well. It would hardly be impossible. In reality, the rail link into the Continent needs as much competition as possible. To start with, it opens up more choice for passengers. Eurostar has been operating on the route since it opened in 1994, and it does a perfectly decent job. But it is hardly setting the world alight with its customer service, or its on board meal options, or indeed its ticket prices. Of 2,500 reviews on Trustpilot it gets an average ranking of just 2.1 out of a possible five, which, to put it politely, would suggest there is some room for improvement. The one thing we know for certain about economics is that when there is a choice, service levels dramatically improve, but when there is a monopoly, they get worse. One extra operator on the service would be an improvement, but two or three would surely be far better. Next, it would open up more potential routes. It has proved impossible to build a new high-speed rail line in the UK. But the rest of Europe has been steaming ahead, with new rapid rail links connecting France, Spain, Germany and Italy. We are meant to be fighting climate change, and we keep whacking extra taxes on air travel to discourage us from getting the plane. So why not make it easier to get the train to Milan, or Barcelona, or Berlin instead of a flight? With more competitors, lots more routes would be opened up, and plenty of climate consciousness travellers could be persuaded to take a train instead. Finally, it would surely lower fares. When I just checked the price of a return from London to Paris for next weekend the best deal I could get on Eurostar was £360 return. It is not exactly cheap. Air France was offering the plane at half that price. Any rival operator coming onto the route would surely start offering more competitive fares, and the more of them there are the cheaper it would get. The tunnel needs a BA option for anyone on expenses, and an easyJet option for anyone who just wants a quick weekend away. But that is not likely to happen now. The role of a regulator is to promote competition, not restrict it. Likewise, we are meant to have a government that believes in 'growth, growth, growth', even if there is not much actual sign of it. Here is a simple suggestion. If we need a new depot to handle more trains, then let's build one, or even two. There is plenty of spare capacity in the Channel Tunnel to run more trains, and plenty of pent up demand for any rival to Eurostar that could offer more choice, more routes and cheaper fares. We should seize that opportunity. Instead, as so often, we are turning it down – and the whole country will end up poorer as a result. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Eurostar needs as much competition as possible
At least it didn't decide that the wrong type of snow made it impossible to run any more trains, or that too many leaves on the line made it far too risky to have an extra operator. Even so, the oddly named Office of Rail and Road, or ORR, last week decided that there is only enough depot space for one extra competitor to Eurostar to run trains from Britain to the rest of the Continent. The other companies queuing up to offer a service will have to be turned away. That is crazy. The rail service needs more competition not less – and anything that gets in the way of that should be fixed before the service gets any worse. Few of us were probably aware of the ORR until last week, although the regulator has more than 350 staff doing something or other, and a budget of more than £40m a year to spend. Last week, however, it made a significant decision that will have an impact on anyone who travels between Britain and the rest of Europe by train. A whole series of rival companies had been preparing to offer rival services to Eurostar running trains through the Channel Tunnel. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains was pitching to run a service on the route, and so were Gemini Trains, chaired by the Labour peer Lord Berkeley, as well as Trenitalia, the main operating arm of the Italian state rail operator. If the tunnel was genuinely opened up, plenty of other companies might have come into the market, such as Germany's Deutsche Bhan, which has expressed an interest in the past; one of the other rail companies; or indeed an airline company such as Air France KLM, which could use the train route to feed long-haul passengers into its Paris hub. St Pancras International could have been humming with new competitors pitching different possibilities. But the ORR has decided that there is only enough space at the depot for one extra competitor on the route. 'The assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar, to grow,' it concluded. At a stroke, the vision of lots of new players has been dashed. Of course in fairness, the ORR is just doing its job, and no one would want to question its decision about the capacity at the depot. It is important that all the trains are properly maintained, and if there is not enough space for more than one extra operator at the moment, then clearly that is a problem. And yet, looking at the bigger picture, it is also completely ridiculous. If we need more depot space, then surely we should just build it. Likewise, if we need another platform, or an extra stop along the route through Kent, or even just space for another Pret so the passengers can pick up a sandwich before they hop on a train to the Continent, then we should build that as well. It would hardly be impossible.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Eurostar says there's no room for rivals at its depot – I went to judge for myself
'I think of it as like entering Hagia Sophia for the first time,' says Gareth Williams, Eurostar's General Secretary, as we enter the main shed at Temple Mills. There's more heavy machinery, fewer intricate mosaics, sure, but I get his point. This depot, fringing the east side of Hackney Marshes in East London, is vast: more than a quarter of a mile long, wide enough to house eight Eurostar trains side-by-side, tall enough to hoist them high up into the air. For around 400 people, this temple of engineering is the office. Every day of the year (Christmas Day included), Eurostar trains roll in and out for maintenance. Toilets are deep cleaned, lights tinkered, electrics rewired, wheels replaced. Sometimes, damage caused by foxes or wild boars must be attended to. Nowhere else in the country is equipped to service high-speed trains, and throughout its 18-year history, the Temple Mills depot has slipped happily under the radar (previously, Eurostar's trains were serviced at North Pole depot in West London, before operations moved from Waterloo to St Pancras). But recently, Temple Mills has been making headlines. In the last 12 months, a suite of rival rail operators – including Virgin Trains, Gemini (a start-up that plans to co-brand with Uber) and the state-owned FS Italiane Group, alongside Spanish operator Evolyn – have launched bids to run trains through the Channel Tunnel. All of these bids hinge on an important question: where will their trains be stored and serviced? So all eyes, naturally, are on Eurostar's existing depot at Temple Mills, but there is disagreement as to whether there is capacity for any more trains. The future of cross-Channel rail travel lies within these walls. My tour of Temple Mills begins on a mezzanine walkway overlooking the main shed. On this Wednesday evening there are five trains being serviced across eight roads. Between now and midnight another six will roll in. Eurostar has drivers whose sole job is to move the trains in and out of the facility, a process described as 'train Jenga' and choreographed in a small nerve-centre control room. Running this depot is a logistical undertaking for one rail firm, let alone two, but this week the Office of Road and Rail gave a preliminary verdict that there's potential capacity at Temple Mills for one more operator 'at most', or for Eurostar to grow. 'Today's report is great news for passengers on both sides of the Channel,' Virgin Trains responded. 'It confirms what we already knew – that there is the capacity Virgin needs at Temple Mills – bringing the Group even closer to unlocking competition on the cross-Channel route.' Evolyn, Gemini and FS Italiane Group declined the opportunity to respond, but Mark Smith, the Man in Seat 61, says: 'Evolyn/Trenitalia seem front runners as Trenitalia have some Hitachi Frecciarossa 1000s in the pipeline, which could be added to or diverted for this service. The other contenders are starting from scratch.' The message from Eurostar, however, is quite different. 'The depot is essentially full,' Gareth Williams says, as we walk past a series of pink bikes used by depot staff to travel around the vast complex. 'If you move the furniture about, what the report says is that one, maybe one and a half of these roads will be potentially available.' It is thought that these 1.5 roads could handle an additional fleet of five trains at most, but Virgin Trains plans to invest in a dozen trains and the other operators are likely to put in orders for at least ten. Eurostar has 17 e320 trains that are serviced at this depot, while its eight e300s are serviced at Le Landy depot near Paris. We enter a warehouse store room described as the 'Ikea Zone' with more than 80,000 components stacked on high shelves. Nuts, bolts, windscreens, coffee machines. If another operator moves in, they will need their own warehouse space. Another canteen. More trains. More blocks in the game of Jenga. This store room is an example of what moving another operator into Temple Mills would entail. There are other nuances in the discussion of capacity at Temple Mills. There are two 'Cripple Roads' at Temple Mills that house old Eurostar trains that are stripped for parts, and the ORR's initial report suggested the roads in the reception area could plausibly be put to more effective use. But when the independent regulator says there's potential space for another operator to squeeze in, this is not the same as saying such a squeeze is practically viable for all parties. And anyway – Eurostar has its own plans for expansion. The French-owned firm plans to invest up to £1.5bn in a new 50-train fleet and new facilities at Temple Mills, as well as increasing capacity at stations including St Pancras International. They say that there are a number of other suitable sites available for competitors, including one at Stratford not far from Temple Mills. 'There's got to be an answer that gives everyone else who is prepared to invest the same opportunity to build their own facilities,' says Williams. 'A solution needs to be found, but it's not going to be found on one road in this shed.' For passengers, the sooner things get sorted in Temple Mills, the better. Competition would likely mean more destinations on the map. All of the rival firms have hinted at plans beyond the current Eurostar map featuring Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lille, which has seen stops like Lyon, Marseille and Disneyland Paris crossed out over the years. Potential new routes to Bordeaux, Milan, Zurich and Frankfurt are all on the table. Even Eurostar agrees competition is no bad thing: 'It's not competition that kills companies, it's stagnation,' says Gareth Williams. Tickets could become cheaper too. The infrastructure consultancy firm, Steer, predicts that growth in capacity in the Channel Tunnel (from 11m to 35m by 2040) could see ticket prices go down by up to 30 per cent. There is also the potential that the overall service would be improved as well. Eurostar has had a monopoly on the line since 1994. Any new pretenders will be keen to offer unique services, whether it be quicker Wi-Fi, more leg-room, greater eco-credentials or finer dining options, to set them apart. For now, that's all hypothetical, as the rail firms have this week been ordered to file final submissions 'at pace' to allow the ORR to make a decision, by October, as to whether they will be granted access to Temple Mills, or if Eurostar will be given the nod to expand. As I left the Temple Mills complex, something about its carbuncular boxy exterior made me reflect on the Hagia Sophia comparison once again. For the first thousand years of its existence, Istanbul's most iconic holy building was used as a church, before being converted into a mosque in the 1300s, a museum in the 20th century, and more recently, a mosque once again. It is an example of how buildings can be repurposed and adapted through the ages as dynasties rise and fall. In a matter of months, we will know whether the throwaway comparison was more prescient than Eurostar's General Secretary intended. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Richard Branson faces fight to challenge Eurostar
Sir Richard Branson faces a fight to fulfil his dream of operating trains through the Channel Tunnel after the rail regulator concluded there was room for just one new entrant. The ruling means Sir Richard must convince the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) that he is better placed to provide competition to Eurostar than three rival bidders. While the ORR found that the only UK depot capable of servicing Channel Tunnel trains has room to handle more, it made clear that vital maintenance capacity is extremely limited. The regulator said: 'Taken together with Eurostar and applicants' initial plans, the assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar to grow.' The chosen bidder will win the right to compete with Eurostar in the lucrative Paris market and potentially launch new services to cities such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Frankfurt and Zurich. The ruling is poised to pitch Sir Richard's Virgin Trains against Gemini Trains, chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley, which has said it would provide services from London's St Pancras International to Paris and Brussels with a fleet of 10 trains. Also in the running is Trenitalia, the main operating arm of Italy's state railway company FS Italian. It is expected to partner with a fourth bidder, Evolyn, which is backed by the Spanish Cosmen family. Virgin Trains said it would order a dozen trains worth around £500m, representing half of the required launch funding. These would most likely be from Alstom or Siemens, which together provide the Eurostar fleet. Sir Richard would take a major equity stake, supported by a partner or partners. While inactive on the UK rail network since 2019, Virgin Trains was credited with bringing airline-style flair to the West Coast route between London and Scotland following its privatisation in the late 1990s. The current West Coast contract is run by Trenitalia with FirstGroup. It was ranked as Britain's worst train service for punctuality and the second worst for cancellations in the first quarter, according to the most recent ORR figures. While Eurostar itself said it would also stake a claim to the spare capacity at Temple Mills depot in east London, the ORR is expected to favour an end to its 31-year monopoly over passenger express services between Britain and the Continent. In a letter to bidders, the regulator asked them to present final submissions 'at pace' to allow it to make a decision on awarding the routes by the end of October. However, it cautioned that applicants must submit detailed plans on the allocation of depot capacity and said that they were free to work together on alternative solutions for providing maintenance. Eurostar, which connects London with Paris, Lille, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the French Alps, said it was still of the view that Temple Mills was too full to accommodate a new entrant, with the one and a half servicing lanes available sufficient for five trains at the most. The company, owned by French state railway SCNF, said the only workable solution may be to build a second UK depot and that there a number of suitable sites available, including one at Stratford, close to Temple Mills. While construction costs would most likely exceed £100m, a spokesman said it would be open to collaborating with a potential rival to share the cost. Eurostar operates a fleet of around 20 trains from St Pancras but plans to place an order for up to 50 more as early as this year, to be split between its Channel Tunnel routes and a Paris-to-Brussels service. The spokesman said: 'It's clear a strategic, joined-up approach is needed to unlock the full potential of international rail for passengers and the UK economy.' Virgin Group welcomed the ORR's update and said it was 'ready to take up the challenge.' A spokesman said: 'Today's report is great news for passengers, bringing the group even closer to unlocking competition on the cross-Channel route.' Gemini didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
6 days ago
- Business
- Telegraph
Branson faces fight to challenge Eurostar
Sir Richard Branson faces a fight to fulfil his dream of operating trains through the Channel Tunnel after the rail regulator concluded there was room for just one new entrant. The ruling means that Sir Richard must convince the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) that he is better placed to provide competition to Eurostar than three rival bidders. While the ORR found that the only UK depot capable of servicing Channel Tunnel trains has room to handle more, it made clear that vital maintenance capacity is extremely limited. The regulator said: 'Taken together with Eurostar and applicants' initial plans, the assessment suggests there is room for at most one new operator, or for Eurostar to grow.' The chosen bidder will win the right to compete with Eurostar in the lucrative Paris market and potentially launch new services to cities such as Bordeaux, Marseille, Frankfurt and Zurich. The ruling is poised to pitch Sir Richard's Virgin Trains against Gemini Trains, chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley, which has said it would provide services from London's St Pancras International to Paris and Brussels with a fleet of 10 trains. Also in the running is Trenitalia, the main operating arm of Italy's state railway company FS Italian, which is expected to partner with a fourth bidder, Evolyn, backed by the Spanish Cosmen family, the leading investor in Mobico, formerly National Express. Virgin Trains has said it would order a dozen trains worth around £500m, most likely from Alstom or Siemens, which together provided the Eurostar fleet, representing half of a required £1bn in launch funding. Sir Richard would take a major equity stake, supported by a partner or partners. While inactive on the UK rail network since 2019, Virgin Trains was credited with bringing airline-style flair to the West Coast route between London and Scotland following its privatisation in the late 1990s. The current West Coast contract is run by Trenitalia with FirstGroup and ranked as Britain's worst train service for punctuality and the second worst for cancellations in the first quarter, according to the most recent ORR figures. While Eurostar itself said it will also stake a claim to the spare capacity at Temple Mills depot in east London, the ORR is expected to favour an end to its 31-year monopoly over passenger express services between Britain and the Continent. In a letter to bidders, the regulator asked them to present final submissions 'at pace' in order to allow it to make a decision on awarding the routes by the end of October. However, it cautioned that applicants must submit detailed plans on the allocation of depot capacity and said that they were free to work together on alternative solutions for providing maintenance. Eurostar, which connects London with Paris, Lille, Brussels, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and the French Alps, said it is still of the view that Temple Mills is too full to accommodate a new entrant, with the one and a half servicing lanes available sufficient for five trains at most. The company, owned by French state railway SCNF, said the only workable solution may be to build a second UK depot and that there a number of suitable sites available, including one at Stratford, close to Temple Mills. While construction costs would most likely exceed £100m, a spokesman said it would be open to collaborating with a potential rival to share the cost. Eurostar operates a fleet of around 20 trains from St Pancras but plans to place an order for up to 50 more as early as this year, to be split between its Channel Tunnel routes and a Paris-to-Brussels service. The spokesman said: 'It's clear a strategic, joined-up approach is needed to unlock the full potential of international rail for passengers and the UK economy.'
