Eurostar have just announced that they are ordering 50 new trains. It should be noted that these trains are not just the blue ones we see streaking through the Kent countryside. They now include the red branded trains to be seen in Belgium and the Netherlands formerly run by Thalys which Eurostar took over last year. The company aspires now to be “the backbone of durable travel in Europe” according to the CEO, Gwendoline Casenave.
Strong Eurostar growth
The company, which started out only running along the cross-channel routes from London to Paris and Brussels grew strongly in 2023 in the five countries where it now operates:
- Amsterdam-London by 38%
- Brussels-London by 33%
- Paris London by 25%
They gained €2bn profit in 2023 from the almost 19mn passengers in their trains.
Eurostar does not stop at either Ebbsfleet or Ashford (or Calais Fréthun). When the general secretary spoke to Ashford Borough Council Transport Committee in June 2023, he said there were no plans to resume the use of these international stations because the first priority of the company is to pay off the debts of almost a billion euros which the company acquired during Covid. In the latest announcement by the CEO, it is stated that the company had raised €650mn loan to refinance this debt, under the form of a “green” loan for five years.
Currently, the company runs 51 train sets:
- 17 e320: capacity 894 seats each
- 8 e300: capacity 750 seats each
These are the ones that we know as Eurostars speeding along HS1.
- 17 PBKA: capacity 371-399 seats
- 9 PBA: capacity 371 seats
These are the high-speed trains on the continental lines, branded in red.
Increased fleet demand
The new purchases will increase the fleet of Eurostar trains to 67, or 30% more than now. Some of the trains will replace those that are ageing. The aim is to have these new trains, with better energy efficiency, in service from 2030.
The passenger numbers in their trains, at 18.6mn, are almost up to the pre-Covid total of 19mn. The French state-owned rail company SNCF holds the majority stake in the company. The order will likely be made with Alstom (who made the PBKA range and the e300s) as they manufacture in France. The e320s were made in Germany by Siemens. There will likely be rivalry between Alstom and Siemens for such a huge contract.
Expanding continental services
There is currently much expansion in train services across several continental countries, for instance in the revival, along the German-Austrian route especially, of sleeper trains. The principle of OPEN lines, that any company can bid to run along any route providing they can meet the stringent criteria, both technical and financial and staffing, means more train companies are crossing national borders in the EU. Trenitalia now runs a high-speed train between Milan and Paris, while Renfe, the Spanish company, runs trains between Madrid and Barcelona and France. Several new bidders, such as Evolyn and Heuro, and maybe even Richard Branson’s Virgin, have shown some interest in competing with Eurostar for the cross-channel route. But the problem all of them have is the bottleneck in the production of new trains.
Foreign owned train production dominates
It is surprising then that UK production of trains seemed to be faltering with some scary announcement from Derby at the end of last year that the Alstom works there would have to lay off workers because of the cancellation of the contract for trains for HS2. That crisis seems to have been averted by an order for more trains for the Elizabeth line.
Then last week came the announcement that Southeastern Rail (now a government-controlled entity) wants to replace the ageing trains in its Metro fleet that mostly serves commuters from the southeast to London and back, for instance on Gravesend lines, or Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells. These trains, at 30 years old, are coming to the end of their operational life. They will be replaced by trains that have air-conditioning, are level with platforms (a challenge at some stations!) and with more space around doors. The announcement lists the manufacturers who are to be asked to bid for these contracts: Alstrom, CAF, Hitachi, Stadler, Siemens.
The Bombardiers, ‘Electrostars’ Class 375, 376 and 377, that operate on the electrified railways of Southeastern were built in Derby between 1999 and 2012 so the oldest of these, the 375, will be 30 by 2029. The trains running on Govia Thameslink, which serves some Surrey stations such as Sutton and Wimbledon, are 387s manufactured from 2014, which can run both on the electrified third rail and overhead pantograph. The Bombardier works in Derby where they were made were taken over by Alstom in 2021.
UK train fleets leased from off-shore companies
Curiously, there is no mention in the government announcement of the ROSCOs – rolling stock operators. Since British Rail was privatised in the 1990s, rolling stock was sold off to these companies: Eversholt, Angel Trains and Porterbrook. The system since then has been that the TOCs, the train operating companies, do not own the trains: they lease them on five year contracts from these ROSCOs. Just before the pandemic, ROSCOs owned 87% of the train fleets operating in the UK. There has been much criticism of their profit-taking (dividends for their mostly foreign shareholders) and the fact that they are registered in low-tax jurisdictions. Does the recent announcement of the invitation to bid directly to the (now) state-operated Southeastern railway represent a rollback on the rail privatisation experiment started by John Major’s government in the 1990s?
Broader economic and social considerations at stake
The fact that new trains are in the news both in England and France sparks interesting questions of economics. In France (or Belgium actually where the HQ of Eurostar is) a company which is majority-owned by the French state is inviting bids for 50 new Eurostars. Will they favour the French company Alstom because it creates jobs in France, or will they go to Siemens, located in Germany, but which may offer superior quality and price? In England, will the new purchase go to create more jobs in Derby (Alstom – also French-owned) or possibly to Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham (Hitachi)?
One happy thought is that the decades of the financialisation of the railways are coming to an end. Those in power, whether in government or at the helm of the big railway operations, will have to make decisions, not only on financial viability but also on what is good for society, for workers and travellers. More trains are needed for us all to shift across from car travel to trains to save the planet Earth. Every time I buy a ticket for a Southeastern train, the app informs me how much CO2 pollution I have saved.
