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Plans by operators including Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group to launch new cross-channel rail services to rival Eurostar have been given a boost after the UK’s rail regulator said there was space for rivals to access the group’s east London train depot.
The Office of Rail and Road said on Monday that an independent report had found that Temple Mills depot could accommodate more trains if needed.
A number of prospective new operators including Virgin are exploring new services to link the UK and mainland Europe, in the most significant challenge yet to Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly.
However, three groups including Virgin and Evolyn, a Spanish-led consortium backed by the largest shareholder in Mobico, have said their plans are contingent on access to the depot. They asked the regulator to intervene after Eurostar insisted it was, in effect, almost full.
The Temple Mills depot is leased by Eurostar and is the only place to park and maintain high-speed cross-Channel trains in the UK. Under UK rail regulations, any operator should be granted access if there is space.
Virgin is one of several operators looking at starting a cross-channel service, following the rapid growth of intercity high-speed train travel on the continent.
Virgin said on Monday that the ruling was “a green signal for competition” and there were “no more major hurdles to overcome”. Its comments come after the company told the Financial Times earlier this month that it was looking to raise £700mn to fund its bid to launch a rival to Eurostar.
Evolyn is also in the advanced stages of putting together a bid to launch services. A third possible operator, Gemini, chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley, has also applied for access to the depot, and welcomed the ORR’s decision.
The ORR said its independent report found that Eurostar’s London depot “would be able if required to accommodate additional trains”.
But the regulator added that changes to “operational and maintenance arrangements at the depot”, as well as possible alterations to infrastructure, would be needed to “access extra capacity” and allow more trains to be maintained and stabled at the depot.
The report found that there would not be enough room to accommodate all potential new operators. The ORR may eventually have to adjudicate on which to allow into the depot.
On Monday Eurostar said that, while there might be some space in the depot, there was not enough for a new operator to launch a full service.
“The options presented in the report could help create some capacity, but this would not be enough to accommodate the stated ambitions of any single operator,” the company said. “This includes the three organisations who have applied to the regulator and the needs of Eurostar itself.”
Eurostar has also set out its own expansion plans, and last year pledged to buy up to 50 new trains for use on both its cross-Channel services and intercity routes within continental Europe.
The rival operators and Eurostar each now have a chance to submit evidence to contest the report’s findings before the ORR makes a final decision.
