EUROPE: Virgin Group has set out details of its planned London to Paris and Brussels high speed train services and its funding partners, with founder Sir Richard Branson saying ’it’s time to end this 30-year monopoly and bring some Virgin magic to the cross-Channel route’.
Welcoming the UK rail regulator’s announcement granting Virgin Trains depot access rights needed for its plans to launch services competing with Eurostar, on October 30 Branson said ‘Virgin is no stranger to delivering award-winning rail services, and just as we have successfully challenged incumbents in air, cruise and rail, we’re ready to do it again. We’re going to shake-up the cross-Channel route for good and give consumers the choice they deserve.’
Funding consortium
Virgin Group has confirmed that is financing partners for the £700m project are Equitix and Azzurra Capital.
The purchase of 12 seven-car 300 km/h Alstom Avelia Stream trains is to be financed by infrastructure investor Equitix, which has stakes in UK train leasing entities Agility Trains East (15%) and AT West (60%), a 50% stake in the owner of London’s Elizabeth Line Class 345 EMUs, and a stake in High Speed 1 concessionaire London St Pancras Highspeed.
Azzurra Capital is a private equity firm founded by Stefano Marsaglia and Jorge Delclaux which Virgin said partners with entrepreneurs and ‘sector-leading’ companies.
Virgin Group CEO Josh Bayliss said ‘we are pleased to be working with two exceptional and experienced investment partners in Equitix and Azzurra Capital. Together, this consortium will build a new business that does what Virgin does best – disrupt and challenge the status quo.’
Planned Virgin Trains services
All the planned services through the Channel Tunnel would operate to or from London St Pancras International.
Phase 1 would see the launch of 13 daily return services to Paris-Nord and four to Brussels Midi. Phase 2 would see the launch of three return services to Amsterdam Centraal via Brussels, and increased Paris frequencies, giving a total of 20 daily return services.
Virgin Trains plans to carry six million passengers a year, and says it has ambitions to expand further across France and into Germany and Switzerland.
It said that if either Ebbsfleet International or Ashford International stations are reopened in Kent, then it would stop there, and it is working with Kent County Council and local stakeholders ‘to explore how to make this happen’.
Next steps for Virgin Trains
While gaining depot access is a significant step for Virgin Trains’ plans to launch in 2030, there are still other commercial and regulatory processes to address, including:
- securing financing;
- securing rolling stock;
- track access to High Speed 1;
- track access to Eurotunnel;
- station access to London St Pancras International (and other HS1 stations);
- access to heavy maintenance facilities (ORR has powers to direct access for the purposes of light maintenance, but heavy maintenance is not covered by the 1993 Railways Act);
- safety certification in the UK (including the Channel Tunnel);
- rolling stock authorisation in the UK (including the Channel Tunnel);
- access to track, stations and depots in the EU;
- safety certification and rolling stock authorisation in the EU.
Leading the project for Virgin Group is Phil Whittingham, who was Managing Director at Virgin Trains when it held UK passenger franchises.
He said ‘building on the great success of Virgin Trains, Virgin will deliver a first-class cross-Channel service that will create hundreds of jobs and support the modal shift of short-haul journeys from air to rail’.
- Rail Business UK looks at the depot access process in more detail.
