RailEnquiry

Eurotunnel has secured perhaps one of the most significant deals in its history after it agreed terms to allow a German rail service to use its cross-Channel route.Since it opened some 20 years ago, only two services have used the tunnel; Eurotunnel’s own car and freight shuttle service, and the Eurostar high-speed train linking London to the likes of Paris and Brussels, via Kent stations in Ashford and Ebbsfleet.Eurostar pays to use the tunnel but, up until now, has been the only passenger service operating between cities.Now a new name will be added to the list, after Deutsche Bahn - the largest railway operator and infrastructure owner in in Europe - agreed to run services between the UK and northern Europe.Previous fears that continental trains would not be able to use the UK rails have also been ruled out, with Eurotunnel bosses confirming there would be only “adjustments to the timetable and modifications to the paths through the tunnel will suffice to accommodate the new traffic”.It means a London to Frankfurt service could be up and running as soon as next year.It will be news warmly welcomed by business travellers in the county for whom the Kent stations provide essential links to mainland Europe, while also further enhancing the county as a place for businesses both home and abroad looking to relocate.Talks between Eurotunnel and DB have been on-going for years. In 2010 it ran a test service of one of its ICE high-speed services to London’s St Pancras International terminal.Now, after three years of detailed study, the Intergovernmental Commission has granted the German firm an operating certificate to run passenger services through the Channel Tunnel.It is expected to lay the ground work for additional services to German and Holland with up to four million new passenger using the service every year.Already, some 10m use the existing high-speed services.A spokesman for Eurotunnel explained: “The request by one of the foremost railway operators to open up direct services via the Channel Tunnel is proof of the significant attraction the infrastructure offers.“The Channel Tunnel provides a route that is fast, reliable and competitive. Groupe Eurotunnel’s access charges, set out by the two states in 1987 under the framework of the Railway Usage Contract (RUC), which runs until 2052, are particularly favourable to the development of new services. Based principally on a charge per passenger, they limit start up costs for new operators whilst they build up their load factors.”Jacques Gounon, chairman and chief executive officer of Groupe Eurotunnel SA added: “Twenty years after the start of commercial services, the authorities have finally opened the Channel Tunnel to all. This is wonderful news for the millions of passengers in northern Europe who can now use this most environmentally friendly means of transport to travel to London.”