‘Direct London-Bordeaux service by 2022’ – SNCF
Trains could be running direct between London and Bordeaux from 2022 according to SNCF International President Diego Diaz.
Speaking at an event at St Pancras International on March 5 to mark the twinning of the London station with Gare de Bordeaux Saint-Jean, he said:
“We hope studies launched in October to see the feasibility of a direct link between the two cities will lead to the first direct train in 2022.
“With the view to opening up to the international scene,
SNCF Gares & Connexions and HS1 Ltd, the owner of St Pancras station, have decided to twin the two stations and the operating teams.”
The French city is one of several new destinations that could be served from London, according to a new report Delivering for Britain and Beyond The Economic Impact of HS1, published on March 5.
It states that the main competitor for international rail services is air and that in 2018 there were around 15 million air trips between London and destinations within a five-hour rail journey time of London.
“Historic evidence shows that as the rail journey time along a corridor decreases, the rail market share increases, relative to air,” the report says.
“Using this relationship between journey time and mode share and combining it with information regarding the size of the international air market, it is possible to estimate the number of air passengers that may choose to travel on new or additional high-speed rail services.”
It states the demand for journeys of 4hr 30 minutes would be 30%, while 2hr journeys would be 93% (see table).
Destinations mentioned in the report, based on current air travel patterns, as well as Bordeaux, are: Cologne, Dusseldorf and Frankfurt in Germany and Geneva in Switzerland. These could use HS1 Ltd, and there is a belief that around 1.6 million more passenger journeys by rail could take place. Other destinations within the five-hour radius could up that figure to 1.9 million.
The report adds: “While we would expect to see a significant number of passengers use these new rail links immediately following the commencement of services, it typically takes travellers around three years to fully adjust to new opportunities to travel.”
The decision to twin St Pancras and Bordeaux’ stations was made following the start of work to investigate the feasibility of the new route. HS1 Ltd predicts up to 200,000 passengers would use the service annually.