Virgin Trains has been cleared to run up to 20 daily return services through the Channel Tunnel from 2030, a step towards ending Eurostar’s three decades as the only passenger operator on the route.
The Office of Rail and Road (ORR), Britain’s rail regulator, said on August 17 that it had pre-approved a framework track access agreement between Virgin and HS1 Limited, which trades as London St Pancras Highspeed.
The agreement covers services between London and Paris, Brussels or Amsterdam from October 1, 2030 to December 31, 2040. The regulator took the decision on August 13.
Martin Jones, ORR deputy director for access and international, called the deal “an important next step in bringing competition and growth” to international rail services. He said more work remained before the trains could run.
Eurostar, majority owned by the French State operator SNCF, has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel since it opened in 1994.
Virgin and London St Pancras Highspeed have until September 4 to sign the agreement. The company must also buy trains, secure access to the tunnel and to networks on the continent, and obtain safety approvals from the ORR and the relevant EU authorities.
The regulator said Virgin’s trains would call only at London St Pancras International on the British high-speed line, and not at Ebbsfleet or Ashford in Kent. It said it could not require an operator to serve particular stations.
The decision follows the regulator’s approval on October 30, 2025 of Virgin’s access to the Temple Mills depot in east London. Competing bids from Trenitalia, Evolyn and Gemini Trains were rejected.
Temple Mills is the only British depot linked to the high-speed line that can accommodate continental-sized trains. That ruling unlocked about £700 million (€819 million) of private investment and up to 400 jobs, the ORR said at the time.
Virgin has said its planned timetable would comprise 13 daily return services to Paris, four to Brussels and three to Amsterdam. It has secured rights to buy 12 Avelia Stream trainsets from Alstom.
Greenpeace Belgium has told Brussels Signal that the absence of competition on the London link helps keep fares high, alongside track access charges and taxation that fall more heavily on rail than on aviation.
A December 2024 ranking by the campaign group Transport & Environment placed Eurostar among the most expensive high-speed operators in Europe per kilometre.
Virgin may not be the first challenger through the tunnel. Italy’s State-owned FS Italiane Group is pursuing the route through its French subsidiary Trenitalia France, which ordered 19 high-speed trains from Hitachi Rail on August 7 and says it will start a Paris to London service in 2029.
