Regional Eurostar - Reasons Given and Criticism

Reasons Given and Criticism

Whilst officially regional Eurostar services have not been cancelled but are on hold or under review, there are no longer many people who expect them to operate on current lines, although this may be reconsidered if the proposed High Speed 2 line comes to fruition. The most often cited reason given why they have not run is that economically they are unviable. The 1990s saw a huge expansion in air travel across Europe with low-cost airlines flying from most major cities in the UK to locations on the continent, against which regional Eurostar services, with predicted journey times of almost nine hours for Glasgow to Paris, could not compete.

Unlike other international train services within the European Union where border controls have either had a long history of operation or are no longer enforced, the UK maintains concerns about customs and immigration. The inter-capital services still operate separately from the rest of the British railway network with passport checks carried out at St Pancras, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International stations. There was concern that similar tight control would not be possible upon regional Eurostar services where separate check-in facilities at stations did not exist.

To stop regional Eurostar services competing with domestic services in the envisioned competitive market that it was hoped the privatisation of British Rail would create, they were not to stop in London and only allowed to pick up at regional stations whilst going south and set down passengers going north. This was cited as another negative reason for their economic non-viability.

The politics of the regional Eurostar service, along with many other Channel Tunnel-related projects, have been complicated over the years. In 1999 the Department for Transport commissioned Arthur D. Little Ltd to write an independent report into regional Eurostar service which was published in February 2000.