Alstom in talks to run double-decker trains on Channel Tunnel route

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Alstom is in talks to run high-speed, double-decker trains through the Channel Tunnel in a move that would cut prices and increase capacity, as the world’s second-largest trainmaker seeks to benefit from increased European rail demand.

Chief executive Henri Poupart-Lafarge said the company’s trains could increase traffic on routes from London to mainland Europe, adding that its Avelia Horizon would be able to run through the undersea Channel Tunnel.

“The double-decker train has a lot of advantages. It’s a very high-speed train with the lowest cost per seat and the highest capacity,” he told the Financial Times.

The new trains can run at more than 300km/h and Alstom has already signed contracts to provide them to French rail operator SNCF, although deliveries have been repeatedly delayed and are not expected until 2026.

Any new trains running on Eurostar’s services need to be approved by the operator, a process that can take “some years”, he added. Trains running from London to mainland Europe would also need to be approved by regulators and comply with the Channel Tunnel’s strict safety rules.

The comments come amid surging rail demand in Europe and as new providers seek to compete with Eurostar. Last week, the UK and Swiss governments outlined plans to encourage direct services between London and Switzerland.

Poupart-Lafarge declined to comment on commercial discussions but said “such an order would take years”. He added that the business “talks basically to everybody” and the trains had been designed to operate on all major European lines.

“We can propose [the train] through the tunnel,” he said. “Whether it’s Eurostar or other competitors, we’ll see.”

Rail providers including Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the Italian state-owned railway are also exploring new services to challenge Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly on the link from the UK to mainland Europe.

Securing new trains that are certified to run through the Channel Tunnel remains one of the biggest challenges for the proposed new entrants, industry experts have said.

Alstom has benefited from increasing competition on routes in mainland Europe, signing an €850mn contract to provide and maintain 12 of its double-decker trains for Proxima, a newly established private operator in France.

Poupart-Lafarge said that modernisation of European rail infrastructure and increased traffic would also benefit the company in the years ahead. It has already seen recent order growth in Germany, including a €3.6bn contract to provide commuter trains for the S-Bahn Rheinland network in western Germany.

Strong demand in Europe helped the business report an increase in orders to €19.8bn in the year to March 31, an increase of 4.7 per cent, and slightly ahead of analysts’ estimates.

The business has also reduced its debt load from €3bn at the end of March 2024 to €434mn the following year. Last year, the company was rocked by a cash flow warning linked to slower than expected deliveries and issues with contracts inherited from Bombardier, the Canadian company it acquired in 2021.

It launched a €1bn capital raise in May to help cut its debt and sold off a US signalling business, as well as selling a German rail factory to defence company KNDS, which plans to repurpose the site to build tanks.

Poupart-Lafarge said its debt challenges “seemed to be water under the bridge”, adding that the company would not seek to sell off any more divisions.

However, the company will not pay a dividend for the 2024-25 fiscal year, with Poupart-Lafarge saying it would do so when it was in a “neutral cash situation”.