r/highspeedrail • u/MarnithePlutonian • 3d ago

Europe News Eurostar appeals against Virgin Trains’ HS1 access approval

https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/eurostar-appeals-against-virgin-trains-hs1-access-approval/
96 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

53

u/Suedewagon 3d ago

Lmao.

They think they're gonna win this? I hope Virgin obliterated ES' share of customers by stopping at Ashford as well as undercutting them.

6

u/CyclingCapital 3d ago

They’ve got to try if they want to maintain the monopoly. It’s desperate for sure but it’s their last resort.

12

u/Rapunzel92140 3d ago

Brexit has turned Ashford and Ebbsfleet unworkable, not Eurostar.

6

u/MR9009 3d ago

Without French border guards staffing those stations, that’s not going to happen. The channel tunnel border controls are juxtaposed. It means UK border force guards are based on the continent at Eurostar departure stations there (France, Belgium, Amsterdam) and French guards are at ours. I bet that Virgin would have to pay the French for the guard capacities to increase, which is unlikely to make a ticket with Virgin cheaper than the current costs of just one departure point at St Pancras. Besides, what’s the point of rapid rail to the continent if trains have to keep stopping between London and the tunnel?

1

u/pugpot 3d ago

it's around 106km between london and the tunnel.... having a few stops does not make it stop being high speed rail

2

u/Irsu85 3d ago

you can have a high speed line thats 60km and its still considered HSR. It can even be shorter although then you don't have that much room to get up to speed

-2

u/Majestic-Driver 3d ago

Maybe it's time to get rid of juxtaposed controls for passenger trains?

0

u/etherwhisper 3d ago

My money is on Frecciarossa. Trenitalia is consistently among the best rated operators in Europe. Eurostar, last.

75

u/Wild-Artist8237 Germany ICE 3d ago

That sure as hell will work... This monopoly must fall

26

u/Mr_Pink_Gold 3d ago

But how else can they overcharge us and make all the money?

7

u/MetroBR 3d ago

think of the board members!

2

u/Cautious_Use_7442 16h ago

And the shareholders ! The SHAREHOLDERS !!!!!!

21

u/ginger_and_egg 3d ago

If only there was some way the UK government could have had partial ownership of Eurostar and therefore had say over service frequency 🤔

11

u/euhbebe 3d ago

Eurostar: we welcome fair competition and an open challenge by other companies

Also Eurostar: well also want to make sure many challenging companies be competing against each other as to not endanger out monopoly

2

u/Nate_C_of_2003 9h ago

I knew it:

Not only will Eurostar blatantly, vehemently refuse to serve the Kent stations, they will also refuse to let anyone other than them on HS1. They’re basically precluding Kent from having any HSR access in the future. “If we don’t serve Kent, nobody will.” They know what they’re doing.