Eurostar on the slow line

The introduction of a direct rail service (albeit one way) between London and Amsterdam has taken nearly a quarter of a century to come about, since the start of Eurostar services in 1994. To put that in perspective, within 25 years of the opening of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830, more than 5,000 miles of railway lines had been built.

It is great that, at last, the management of Eurostar is looking beyond the very limited routes it has operated during this period. Railways are less flexible than planes, and there is no doubt that the advent of the lowcost aviation market has stymied opportunities for Eurostar to expand its network. Moreover, the fact that the Channel Tunnel Act requires ridiculous levels of token security for the trains does not help their competitiveness.

Nevertheless, there has been a lack of imagination among the top echelons of Eurostar, and hopefully this is now changing. At the moment, the trains and the tunnel are rather wasted resources.

The Deutsche Bahn initiative has stalled, and perhaps Eurostar needs to pick up the mantle to introduce German destinations. Brexit may damage passenger numbers, but it could be a useful tool to persuade the politicians to be more flexible in relation to regulations.

Eurostar could push the case that since we are very keen on keeping good ties with Europe despite Brexit, then more and quicker train services would be a good start.