DETAILS of the fractured negotiations between Eurostar and Alstom for a fleet of High Speed trains have been seen by Railnews Focus, and reveal how the discussions slowly deteriorated over a number of months.

Eurostar roused French fury by choosing ten Siemens Velaros (mock-up, pictured) for its next-generation fleet, which from 2014 should be linking London with new destinations which are expected to include Amsterdam, Lyon and Geneva. The new trains will be capable of 320km/h, and therefore also reduce the journey times between London and Eurostar’s existing main continental destinations of Paris and Brussels.

The decision to buy from Germany led to French protests at the highest level, with the President himself said to be involved in gearing up for a challenge to the contract.

French train-builder Alstom has already taken the matter to the High Court in London, only to be slapped down after the week-long hearing when the judge refused the company’s application for an injunction against Eurostar on the grounds that the procurement process was ‘flawed’, and that awarding the contract to Siemens would cause reputational damage to Alstom.

But the new details reveal that Alstom was dangerously complacent about the prospective Eurostar order, and that panic slowly set in when Alstom began to realise that building more trains for Eurostar could not be considered an easy ride after all.

The story isn’t over. Last week Alstom renewed its legal challenge, and industry sources say the company is trying to get a further hearing in October 2011, when the present tender would have run out of time.

It remains to be seen whether Eurostar can fend off these alleged delaying tactics, and expand beyond its present boundaries as planned in four years from now.

[The full report is published in the new edition of Railnews Focus, which can be downloaded by clicking here.]