{"id":138550,"date":"2025-10-22T15:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138550\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T15:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T15:38:13","slug":"eurostar-orders-uks-first-fleet-of-double-decker-trains-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/138550\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurostar orders UK’s first fleet of double-decker trains | UK News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A major fleet of double-decker trains is set to run on the UK rail network for the first time as part of the Eurostar services operating through the Channel Tunnel.<\/p>\n

Eurostar has revealed it is buying up to 50 high-speed two-storey trains for its network across five countries – and will include the services between London St Pancras and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

The “new generation” electric fleet of 200-metre trains will be named Eurostar Celestia and will also see the introduction of services from St Pancras to Frankfurt and Geneva.<\/p>\n

Commercial services using the new trains are expected to begin in May 2031.<\/p>\n

Eurostar also said the new fleet will create around 350 more jobs at its Temple Mills depot in London, where it plans to maintain its entire fleet.<\/p>\n

It said it will be investing \u20ac80m (\u00a370m) to develop the site so it can “accommodate the new trains”. Most of the firm’s jobs are already based in the UK.<\/p>\n

Eurostar has confirmed an initial order for 30 trains and has an option for a further 20 as part of a \u20ac2bn (\u00a31.74bn) deal with the manufacturer, Alstom.<\/p>\n

The trains will operate alongside Eurostar’s existing 17 single-decker Siemens-built e320s and will boast 20% more seats, a lower floor and be 16cm taller.<\/p>\n

Double-decker trains do not have twice as many seats as single-deckers because space is needed for interior steps.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Image:
\n The new trains will run alongside the existing Eurostar fleet. Pic: PA<\/p>\n

‘More than a thousand seats per service’<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a statement, Eurostar said: “It is expected that each 200-metre set will have around 540 seats.<\/p>\n

“If running in 400m formation (as through the Channel Tunnel today), there would be around 1,080 seats per service.”<\/p>\n

The company said the Celestia fleet will herald a “golden age for international sustainable travel” and will make up to 50% in energy savings compared with its existing trains.<\/p>\n

Read more from Sky News:
Surprise food price fall helps keep inflation down<\/a>
Chancellor looking at cutting energy bills<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said: “Placing this milestone order marks the concrete realisation of Eurostar’s ambitious growth strategy – to reach 30 million passengers by investing in a brand new fleet.<\/p>\n

“We’re particularly proud to bring double-decker trains to the UK for the very first time.<\/p>\n

“Customers can expect a very special new train with Eurostar Celestia, which will offer exceptional comfort, a unique Eurostar experience and new surprises to be revealed.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A major fleet of double-decker trains is set to run on the UK rail network for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[79,18,19,17],"class_list":{"0":"post-138550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}