One by one the many barriers which prevented Germany’s Deutsche Bahn from starting a London service are falling.
Last month I reported on how two new operators were gearing up to provide competition to incumbent Eurostar.
One of two remaining obstacles to competition was to gain access to the Temple Mills deport at Stratford (East London), which is dedicated to high-speed trains and currently used by Eurostar.
However after I finished writing the above came news that regulator ORR is working with the above hopefuls to secure space for their maintenance needs.
And now the second major obstacle – lack of passenger handling capacity at St Pancras International – could be solved according to a study commissioned by HS1 Ltd.
Remodelling of the departure areas in the next three to four years would increase hourly passenger numbers from 1,800 to 2,400.
In the longer term a redesign could boost this figure to around 5,000.
Currently the passengers’ waiting area (unless a traveller can use the Eurostar business lounge) can become very crowded should there be a delay for whatever reason. That’s simply because each Eurostar train accommodates up to 750 or 900 passengers.
Railwaygazette.com quotes HS1 Ltd’s CEO Richard Thorp as saying that:
“We are on the cusp of the biggest shake-up to high-speed rail travel in a generation and increasing capacity at St Pancras International is one important step along the way.
“These findings show there is space to cater for more services, presenting an exciting opportunity to enhance the passenger experience.”
Some readers might wonder why HS1 Ltd (the manager of main en route stations) and Tunnel operator Getlink are so keen to see more competition.
The answer is a simple one. Both bodies want to see growth because the more trains who use their facilities the more they can earn from toll fees.
high-speed1.co.uk, getlinkgroup.com
Belgium
