Little did I know when I wrote it! My long analysis of through trains through the Channel Tunnel written a year became an unlikely hit – it’s the most read blog entry I have ever written.

However there is plenty about the future of through train services to the UK that I don’t know. So with the #CrossChannelRail project I am going to set about finding the answers. I am going to take the gist of the blog post, and go an investigate all of the aspects of this on the ground.

What stations could be used for through trains to London? And is there a way to better use capacity on the existing infrastructure, both lines and (former) stations?

What rolling stock is available for trains to London, or would be appropriate in future?

And what operators could run such services? Could Eurostar expand, or could another firm step in to rival them?

I will take the #CrossBorderRail method – travel to the places, document what I find on the ground, and photograph it as far as I can. And then come up with a detailed assessment of what’s possible. And I aim to do all of this in April 2025.

The emphasis is on the short to medium term – what can basically be done with infrastructure as it is now, or is already in construction. And stupid though the security checks and passport controls are before boarding, I am taking those as given – it is not within my power to get the UK to reduce its border and security paranoia.

However before I proceed with the detailed project planning I need your help.

Where should I go?

I have listed the places I think are obvious to stop and visit in this map – stations, companies, points of interest, and some of the rolling stock that is already in operation. Do let me know what I am missing! And if you click a pin on the map you get a little pop up window explaining why that thing is included in my investigation.

A few things are outside the scope of the project.

Sorry night train fans, but the economics of night trains are already complicated, so I cannot see how night trains through the Channel Tunnel are possible in the short to medium term, so this project will concern only daytime trains.

There is the viable question as to the extent to which ferries are an alternative to the Channel Tunnel, but apart from a cursory examination of Folkestone, Dover and Calais, this too is out of scope – a comprehensive project about ferries as a component of sustainable, multi-modal journeys in Europe would make sense – but here my task is a different one – it is to investigate what could better be run through the Channel Tunnel. And I am a railways person, not a boats person!

Last but not least I am only looking at routes in the UK as far as London, and anything in the rest of the UK is out of scope. This is because anything beyond HS1 means UK loading gauge trains are needed. And no connection between HS2 and HS1 is foreseen, severely limiting the capacity for any through services. So for now those coming from the rest of the UK are going to have to change in London.

Image used in this post

DutchAstrid
Saturday 13 August
August 13, 2011
CC BY-NC-ND 2.0