rail@bauermedia.co.uk
LONDON could gain an additional 15 high-speed trains a day to Belgium and the Netherlands, under ambitious plans unveiled on November 14 by Dutch startup Heuro.
Established by a trio of entrepreneurs, led by father and son Maarten and Roemer van den Biggelaar, Heuro aims to compete directly with Eurostar on the key Amsterdam-Paris/London routes from 2028, offering up to 15 trips per day to London and 16 to Paris.
Inspired by the success of Italian open access operator .italo and Trenitalia’s high-speed ventures in Spain and France, Heuro is keen to shift travellers from air to rail on some of Europe’s busiest short-haul air routes, by offering more trains and lower fares.
“We just want lower prices and more people off planes and on trains. Eurostar is often quite full. If we start running trains, we hope the prices will drop,” said Roemer van den Biggelaar.
Competition on high-speed rail in Italy and Spain has helped to increase service frequencies, reduce fares by up to 40%, and grow the market by up to 300% on some routes in recent years, according to figures published by non-state rail operator lobby group ALLRail.
ALLRail President Dr Erich Forster welcomed the announcement, saying: “Competition in Italy has led to more choice and more trains. It is clearly the solution for the North-West European high-speed rail market as well.
“Put simply, startups such as Heuro are the future of passenger rail. We look forward to an alternative to the current situation where, with only one operator [Eurostar], the market is chronically underserved.”
However, the proposal faces a number of significant challenges - not least the UK’s widely reported terminal capacity issues (especially at St Pancras International) and Border Patrol staff shortages that are already limiting Eurostar’s ability to meet demand.
