London could soon get direct trains to two new destinations in France

Last week Virgin Trains was given the green light to move into Eurostar’s rail depot in east London. If you weren’t aware, that’s a huge deal for cross-Channel travel. Access to the Temple Mills International depot means that Virgin is now on track to launch services from the UK to Europe to compete with Eurostar. And that would open up a whole new world of opportunity. 

Besides cheaper fares and potential direct routes from other parts of the UK, Virgin could also eventually run direct services from London St Pancras to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. According to the Standard, the company is in talks with France’s busiest airport about the possibility of running services there. 

When it announced that it had secured permission from the Office of Rail and Road to use the depot, Virgin said that once services to Paris Gare du Nord, Brussels-Midi and Amsterdam Centraal (all stations already served by Eurostar) are established, it has ‘ambitions to expand further across France, and into Germany and Switzerland’.

Richard Branson, Virgin’s founder, also said that he hopes to run trains from St Pancras to Disneyland Paris on a limited basis. Eurostar stopped serving the theme park so that it could focus on core routes back in 2023. Branson said: ‘I’d like to go. I was just (thinking) I’d like to bring my grandkids, but by the time we’re there, they’ll be bringing me, they’ll be teenagers.

‘But anyway, we should definitely do a day or two in Disneyland, even if it’s not a regular service.’

Let’s not get too carried away, though. Remember – the only thing that is actually confirmed at this stage is that Virgin will be using the Temple Mills International rail depot. It still needs to build and test trains, and get approvals on things like track access and safety. If that all goes smoothly, the operator hopes to start running trains from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam by 2030.

Everything you need to know about Eurostar’s new double-decker trains.

Plus: a new affordable train service is launching between London and Glasgow – with tickets for less than £34. 

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