Firms vie with Eurostar to provide direct services from Britain to mainland Europe as they spy growth in market
W
hat better places to underline the turning wheels of history? “The Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie,” intoned the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, adding with just a touch of hyperbole: “In just a matter of years, rail passengers in the UK could be able to visit these iconic sights – direct from the comfort of a train.”
After a decade in which ministers sold off Britain’s share in Eurostar and left the company teetering on the brink, international rail travel is back on the government’s menu du jour. With Alexander announcing a bilateral agreement on rail with Germany last month, after a similar deal with Switzerland in May, long-lapsed ambitions for direct trains across the continent have revived.
Yet just as in the depths of the cold war, the fate of those vying to reach Checkpoint Charlie depends on the machinations of those working in the shadows in London; then MI6, now the Office of Rail and Road (ORR). The rail regulator is set to decide in the autumn how to allocate space in the solitary train depot that holds the key to a successful cross-Channel operation. A host of prospective rival companies want to move into the Temple Mills depot occupied by Eurostar, while the current operator also seeks room to run trains to Germany.
