And by popular demand, here's the #BullshitMeter for today's story about Richard Branson - Virgin Trains wanting to buy a dozen trains to rival Eurostar by 2029
@Maartje Its open access so it actually earns money and pays for the use of the rails - no way either UK or France would subsidise it beyond the line @Jon Worth
If I rewind the clock to last century (!), we would have had Regional & Nightstar services with maintenance depots in cities away from London & what would have been HS1/2 linked up, with enough capacity to let us minions who don’t live East, West or North anywhere near London, to have a railway connection into Europe. We still haven’t a tunnel into Euston for HS2! They won even consider opening Ashford Station to existing Eurostar!
@JonnyT Sure, but Eurostar is not going to lease its trains to a rival. So if anyone else wants to run to London they're going to need trains. That's all.
@JonnyT The line has no capacity issues. It has spare capacity. St Pancras has capacity issues, because Eurostar trains hang around there so long. Checking how/if that could be made more efficient is central to this issue!
TL;DR – whatever you read in the press about future long distance train services through the Channel Tunnel is at best only part of the truth, because the reality is complicated Periodically stories appear in newspapers, on radio and television, and …
@abeorch I think this Temple Mills issue is a bit of a misnomer. That potential rivals to Eurostar are using that as a mask for other headaches they have.
@Jon Worth Just throwing a curve ball - What do you think ? - From #Ashford faster connections from #Gatwickairport would open up a heap of demand from the south and west of the UK plus maybe a bit of #flytrain
Maartje
in reply to Jon Worth • • •abeorch
in reply to Maartje • •Its open access so it actually earns money and pays for the use of the rails - no way either UK or France would subsidise it beyond the line
@Jon Worth
Andrew Rutter
in reply to Jon Worth • • •Jon Worth
Unknown parent • • •Jon Worth
Unknown parent • • •abeorch
in reply to Jon Worth • •Jon Worth
in reply to abeorch • • •The future of long distance train services through the Channel Tunnel - Jon Worth
Jon Worthabeorch likes this.
abeorch
in reply to Jon Worth • •Jon Worth
in reply to abeorch • • •abeorch likes this.
abeorch
in reply to Jon Worth • •Just throwing a curve ball - What do you think ? - From #Ashford faster connections from #Gatwickairport would open up a heap of demand from the south and west of the UK plus maybe a bit of #flytrain