Eurostar challenger Gemini Trains plans direct London to Cologne services by 2030

British business travellers could gain a direct rail link between London and Cologne by 2030 under plans from Gemini Trains, a UK start-up that intends to challenge Eurostar’s three-decade hold on the Channel Tunnel.

The company, which says it is backed by a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund, also wants to run rival services to Paris, including Disneyland Paris and Charles de Gaulle airport, before expanding to Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. For SME travellers heading to Germany’s trade fair cities, the four-hour London to Cologne journey would replace trips that currently take up to six hours with at least one change.

Stratford hub and Kent stations back in play

With capacity at St Pancras under pressure, Gemini plans to make Stratford International its main London hub. Trains would also call at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International on the High Speed 1 line, restoring international services to the Kent stations that Eurostar abandoned in 2020. That would put cross-Channel rail within easier reach of businesses in east London, Essex and Kent.

Gemini is set to lease eight electric 200-metre trains, each carrying more than 550 passengers, and aims to run about eleven services a day by 2030 before what it calls rapid expansion. Eurostar currently operates around 26 daily services from London. The start-up has also signed a ticketing and co-branding partnership with Uber, and Siemens has been lined up to supply its high-speed fleet.

Tickets will use dynamic pricing, with introductory one-way fares to Paris expected at about £59. Standard class promises more comfortable seats, good wifi and mood lighting, while business class adds food and a privacy screen.

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Competition builds in a half-empty tunnel

For more than 30 years Eurostar has been the sole passenger operator in the Channel Tunnel, which runs at about 50 per cent capacity. Recent regulatory changes have opened the door to rivals. Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Trains has secured access to Temple Mills, the east London depot that is the only site in Britain able to house and maintain high-speed cross-Channel trains, and plans London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam services from 2030. Italy’s state-owned Trenitalia and Spanish start-up Evolyn are also circling.

Gemini missed out on Temple Mills but says it is in talks with the Department for Transport about a new depot at Ashford, and would consider sites in Belgium or Germany.

Adrian Quine, Gemini’s chief executive, said: “The forecast growth through the Channel Tunnel is enormous, yet only 50 per cent of the slots on the track are currently used. Eurostar, a monopoly operator, has become lacklustre and very expensive. We will shake things up by offering new routes, new stations, new trains, new interiors, new cheaper fares and encouraging people to shift from plane to train.”

Eurostar readies its own expansion

The incumbent is not standing still. Eurostar is preparing to invest £1.7 billion in a fleet of 50 double-decker trains, enabling direct services to Geneva and to Frankfurt via Cologne by 2031, and a company-commissioned report forecasts London route passenger numbers rising 50 per cent within a decade.

Gwendoline Cazenave, Eurostar’s chief executive, said: “The UK now needs a bold vision to match the private investment on the table, more depot capacity, a bold expansion of St Pancras and a seamless border. Now is the time to act to ensure Britain plays a leading role in Europe’s high-speed rail future.”