A Spanish rail company has announced plans to launch a Paris to London high-speed train service to rival Eurostar.
The company, Evolyn, said the route was “strategic and high demand” and that it intended to launch its first service in 2025. It had reached an agreement to buy 12 high-speed trains from the French manufacturer Alstom and had the option of acquiring four more, it added.
Evolyn told Railway Gazette International the services would run non-stop between Gare du Nord in Paris and St Pancras International in London, dashing hopes of those in northern France and southern England deprived of Eurostar services since the Covid crisis.
The company said it had been planning the new service – in which it is investing £1bn – for three years and was already engaged in discussions over accessing the tracks.
Evolyn is led by the Cosmen family of Spain, which invests in the coach and train company Mobico – formerly known as National Express – and is backed by unnamed British and French “financial partners”.
“We know that the governments of the United Kingdom and France welcome a project that will allow their citizens to increase the connection options between the UK and several countries in continental Europe, with a green alternative that will also contribute to decarbonisations,” Jorge Cosmen, the Evolyn chief executive, said.
The Channel tunnel operator, Getlink, welcomed news that Evolyn planned to apply to become the second international operator on the Paris-London line. The tunnel network was designed to transport more than 20 million travellers a year, double the current number. Post-Brexit border checks have led to reduced services.
Yann Leriche, the director general of Getlink, said the Evolyn announcement “confirms the economic and technical attractiveness of access to the Eurotunnel infrastructure as well as the huge potential for growth in high-speed rail traffic in the Channel tunnel”.
Eurostar International Limited (EIL), the sole passenger operator, previously known as Eurostar, was owned by three separate companies in the UK, France and Belgium. In 2014 the British government sold its entire interest in EIL for just over £757m to investment companies, one in Canada and the other in the US.
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The target of Eurostar, which has since merged with the high-speed train operator Thalys, is to carry 30 million passengers a year by 2030, up from a combined total of 18.9 million on Eurostar and Thalys services in 2019. It has said it will look at reinstating stops at stations including Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International but did not envisage trains stopping at either in the foreseeable future.
