Virgin Trains has secured a deal with Alstom for 12 high-speed Avelia Stream trains to compete with Eurostar beginning in 2030. Plans include services from London to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam, with aspirations to extend into France, Germany, and Switzerland. The initiative, led by Phil Whittingham, will need approximately £700 million in funding. Virgin positions itself as the only applicant with both funding and trains secured amidst growing competition, including applications from Trenitalia and Gemini. This move could challenge Eurostar's long-standing market dominance since 1994.
Writing in The Times, Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson said his aim was to inject competition and improve the passenger experience: "For too long, passengers have had no choice and even less joy. We're not here to copy. We're here to raise standards, spark innovation and give people a better way to travel."
The company's submission to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) confirms it has secured binding exclusivity for the Avelia Stream model - the latest generation of the Pendolino tilting trains that Virgin introduced to the UK's West Coast Main Line two decades ago.
Collection
[
|
...
]