DEUTSCHE BAHN’S LONDON PLANS

Back in 2010, when Deutsche Bahn displayed its ICE train at St Pancras, I wonder how many of the attendees realised that the trainset had been towed to London from Calais? That’s because every European nation has its own technical standards for rail. If not about power, it could concern signalling. In the case of the UK, it’s worse still, because our loading gauge does not conform to the European standard.

The Tunnel has its own standards. Originally, only Eurostar’s Alstom trainsets were certified for the Tunnel. DB’s ICEs, because of their different power distribution, had to gain certification and this process took years.

Deutsche Bahn had hoped to be running to London by the time of the 2012 Olympics, but its ICEs were not approved by the Tunnel authorities until 2013, with DB itself then postponing its London plans until 2016.

In 2014, Andreas Busemann, who was then head of production at DB’s long-distance division, told Reuters: “We have not entirely given up on our goal of going to London. But for now we are concentrating on going to Brussels and Paris. None of us anticipated we would have such major problems with certification [for the ICEs]. In the meantime the business environment has changed.” DB would also face the question of where to conduct the immigration and security checks for passengers originating in Germany and Holland.

The situation has remained that way, although, periodically, hopes have been raised by the UK media. The latest news from DB is that plans remain on hold. Quoted on French site mobilicites.com, Birgit Bhole, CEO of DB’s long-distance network, said: “London is not in our schedule for five years because we have other priorities.” Rather than operate to the UK, DB prefers to co-operate better with France’s SNCF for high-speed Franco-German cross-border services.