Channel Tunnel rail faces biggest shake up in decades

Double-decker trains and competition to Eurostar will improve capacity and should help to lower ticket prices

- SIMON CALDER TRAVEL CORRESPONDENT

Eurostar, which runs trains through the Channel Tunnel from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, says it will introduce double-decker trains from May 2031.

They will be built by the French manufacturer Alstom and branded Eurostar Celestia. The company has placed firm orders for 30, with options for 20 more. The trains will also operate on Eurostar's continental network linking the French, Belgian and Dutch capitals.

Eurostar services will hold 1,080 people, a 20 per cent rise in the current capacity. With the new trains, Eurostar aims to achieve an annual total of 30 million passengers across its network. In 2024, it carried 19.5 million people.

Chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave told The Independent: “It’s about flexibility, increasing frequencies and expanding destinations. We'll add three more daily frequencies to Paris, adding around 2 million seats, and increase Amsterdam services from four to seven daily.

“We'll also launch new direct services to Cologne, Frankfurt, and Geneva, with three to four frequencies per day.

“All trains will serve all destinations. We won't assign specific trains to cross-Channel or continental routes.”

The rail firm's announcement of a €2bn (£1.74bn) investment comes at a time when other firms are clamouring to compete with Eurostar - which has held a monopoly on routes from London since 1994. In recent years, it has dropped a number of stations from its network, including two in Kent, to concentrate on intercity connections.

These are the key questions and answers.

Are double-decker trains unusual?

Double-decker trains are common in continental Europe for both local and high-speed rail services. But apart from a brief experiment in southeast London in the mid-20th century, they have not operated in the UK.