{"id":102425,"date":"2026-08-13T02:53:50","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/102425\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T02:53:50","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:53:50","slug":"eurostars-first-major-rival-is-coming-to-london-with-a-new-paris-route-launching-in-2029","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/102425\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurostar\u2019s first major rival is coming to London \u2013 with a new Paris route launching in 2029"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever since the Channel Tunnel opened for business in 1994, Eurostar<\/a> has dominated the rails. On 14 November 1994, the first cross-border train set off from Waterloo International Station (with services later moving to St Pancras), marking a milestone in the future of rail travel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, Eurostar\u2019s monopoly looks set to end in the coming years, with a host of competitors looking to get in on the act.<\/p>\n

The latest competitor to throw its hat in the ring, according to a recent news report from the International Railway Journal<\/a>, is Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS Group). Italian State Railways has reportedly awarded a contract to Hitachi Rail for 19 high-speed trains to expand services and introduce a new cross-border service via the Channel Tunnel between Paris and London in 2029.<\/p>\n

The deal, totalling around \u20ac2 billion (around \u00a3 1.7 billion), will see the operator increase service frequencies on routes such as Paris to Lyon and Paris to Marseille, in addition to the London and Paris connections.<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/p>\n

The new and improved trains will expand services between Paris and destinations such as Marseille (pictured)<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

Gianpiero Strisciuglio, CEO and general manager of FS, said, \u201cThe new trains and the new Maisons-Alfort Pompadour maintenance hub are fundamental elements for the launch of the Paris<\/a>-London connection, a project that is central to our vision of the \u2018Metro of Europe\u2019, an integrated high-speed network that will increasingly connect Europe\u2019s major cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports suggest the new trains will offer \u2018next-generation\u2019 internet connectivity of up to 10GB\/second, a bistro concept and sleek, comfortable interior design.<\/p>\n

However, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane isn\u2019t the only operator set to compete with Eurostar\u2019s services in the coming years. In November 2025, we reported on Virgin Trains\u2019 earlier promise to \u201cend the Eurostar monopoly\u201d as Sir Richard Branson\u2019s group sought \u00a3700m in investment.<\/p>\n

Branson said in Virgin\u2019s statement, \u201cVirgin is no stranger to delivering award-winning rail services, and just as we have successfully challenged incumbents in air, cruise and rail, we\u2019re ready to do it again. We\u2019re going to shake up the cross-Channel route for good and give consumers the choice they deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since the Channel Tunnel opened for business in 1994, Eurostar has dominated the rails. On 14 November…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[252,27,18,3685,43037,25024],"class_list":["post-102425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-europe","tag-london","tag-news","tag-paris","tag-sustainable-travel","tag-travel-tips"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117085947043040741","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}