Virgin is reported to be making another bid to stay in the rail industry. This time, it is looking at international trains through the Channel Tunnel, and seeking to raise £700 million for potential routes between London and cities like Paris and Brussels, in competition with Eurostar.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Group won two franchises at the start of privatisation in 1997, but lost the CrossCountry franchise to Arriva in 2007 and Intercity West Coast to FirstGroup and Trenitalia in 2019. In the meantime, it acquired 10 per cent of the Intercity East Coast franchise in 2015 in partnership with majority holder Stagecoach, but lost that franchise in 2018 when it failed and was renationalised as LNER.

Virgin has since launched a separate business as a third-party ticket retailer, and has also submitted an application for up to five open access routes from London Euston. These applications have yet to be decided by the Office of Rail and Road, but the Department for Transport has declined to support them, saying that ‘We do not believe that the quantum of paths sought is feasible or realistic and note that the WCML already operates at close to capacity, particularly into/out of London Euston.

‘This application is also at odds with work already underway as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade.’

International routes like the line to the Channel Tunnel have been open access since 2010, but a competitor for Eurostar has yet to be launched, although Deutsche Bahn toyed with the idea before the 2012 Olympics, and more recently Spanish Evolyn has unveiled a proposal to start services linking London and Paris, using Alstom rolling stock.

Virgin Group wants to raise £300 million in equity and £400 million in debt, according to the Financial Times.

Virgin is quoted as saying: ‘The cross-Channel route is ripe for change and would benefit from competition. While Virgin is not committing to launching a service just yet, we are seeking investment from like-minded partners to invest alongside Virgin and we are delighted with the progress made so far.’

The owners of the HS1 concession, which has been renamed London St Pancras Highspeed, signed a memorandum of understanding with Eurotunnel’s parent company Getlink last month, in what is being described as a ‘landmark partnership’ intended to increase the growth of cross-Channel traffic, possibly adding services to Germany and Switzerland. The number of international passengers through St Pancras could be tripled.

There is one problem, which concerns depot capacity. Any further international operator would need to use Temple Mills in east London, but Eurostar is opposing this, telling the ORR last September that an application for depot access from Evolyn was ‘presumptive and lacked essential detail’. The ORR has commissioned an independent study.

Temple Mills, opened on 2 October 2007, was the successor to the original Eurostar depot at Old Oak Common, which was needed for domestic purposes.

Do you have a comment on this story? Please click here  to send an email to Platform at Railnews.

Moderated comments will be published on this site, and may also be used in the next print edition.