Expansion in Europe… and perhaps the UK

I was very interested to read about the proposed merger of Eurostar and Thalys, and the usual PR comments about service and possible expansion ( RAIL 889).

Eurostar is celebrating its 25th anniversary, yet it was only in the last 12 months that a through Eurostar service was established between London and Amsterdam one way only (maybe both ways in December 2019). This is hardly what you might call a dramatic expansion of the Eurostar network.

Thalys operates between Paris and Brussels, and the high-speed line to Cologne then on to Dortmund. However, there has been no progress in operating a through service to Frankfurt using the high-speed line, which is only an hour from Cologne.

DB operates an hourly ICE service from Frankfurt, alternating between Amsterdam and Brussels. Perhaps the new company could think about operating the Frankfurt to Brussels train as a through service to London. After all, who wants to change at Brussels - experience in this country shows the through service wins every time?

Nearer to home, I still have a photograph of a Eurostar at Milton Keynes station, on a crew training train for a new Manchester, Birmingham and Milton Keynes to Paris service twice a day both ways. But in the end, the service never started.

In this day and age of cutting emissions, perhaps it is time for the City Mayors of Manchester and Birmingham and other local authorities to start making the case again for this service and others.

Irving Nicol, Milton Keynes