{"id":613709,"date":"2025-12-05T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613709\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T11:36:18","slug":"plans-for-direct-uk-germany-rail-link-one-step-closer-department-for-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/613709\/","title":{"rendered":"Plans for direct UK\u2013Germany rail link one step closer | Department for Transport"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn plan direct London\u2013Germany high-speed rail by early 2030s, making travel greener and easier.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">direct rail links between\u00a0UK\u00a0and Germany one\u00a0step\u00a0closer as\u00a0Deutsche Bahn (DB) and Eurostar set the foundation for first high-speed connection\u00a0<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">new routes\u00a0between London, Cologne and Frankfurt planned for early 2030s, set to boost tourism, create\u00a0jobs\u00a0and help stimulate economic growth.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\">forms part of the government\u2019s wider plan to boost international rail connectivity and deliver more travel options for passengers\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Millions of passengers\u00a0could\u00a0benefit\u00a0from quicker and more convenient travel across Europe as\u00a0Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn (DB) have\u00a0confirmed joint plans for a direct high-speed rail connection between Germany and London.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed this week, both companies announced their intention to explore options to offer a direct service between London and major German cities, such as Cologne and Frankfurt.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The announcement follows the\u00a0very\u00a0first meeting of\u00a0a\u00a0joint\u00a0UK-Germany taskforce\u00a0in Berlin on 25 November \u2013 bringing together transport experts\u00a0from both governments\u00a0and industries\u00a0to\u00a0pave the way for direct international rail\u00a0and to\u00a0examine how to address barriers\u00a0to\u00a0services.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Set to start in the early 2030s,\u00a0the routes would use Eurostar\u2019s new double-decker Celestia fleet, which offers\u00a020%\u00a0more\u00a0capacity\u00a0and\u00a0makes up to 50% in energy savings\u00a0compared with\u00a0its\u00a0existing fleet.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Offering direct city centre\u00a0to city centre\u00a0connection, passengers could soon travel\u00a0between London\u00a0and\u00a0Cologne in around 4 hours and Frankfurt in just over 5 hours, providing more choice, more comfort and a sustainable alternative to flying.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">It would also\u00a0support the creation of\u00a0British\u00a0jobs, kickstart the\u00a0UK\u00a0economy and strengthen the vital trade links\u00a0between the two countries\u00a0\u2013\u00a0providing\u00a0better access to European markets\u00a0and easier investment opportunities in the\u00a0UK.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This comes\u00a0as\u00a0the German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier\u00a0finishes\u00a0a\u00a03 day state visit to the\u00a0UK,\u00a0bolstering\u00a0economic ties between the two close countries.\u00a0President Steinmeier joined the Prime Minister and the Chancellor in hosting a roundtable with British and German business leaders at No10\u00a0on Wednesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Prime Minister, Keir Starmer said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This brings us one step closer to a new rail link that will put Britain at the heart of a better-connected Europe and paves the way for increased trade, tourism and investment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">From establishing pioneering cross-continent routes to freezing domestic rail fares for the first time in 30 years, transport is just one of the many ways this government is investing in international relationships to cut the cost of living back home.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander said:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0This partnership between Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn has the potential to transform cross border rail travel in Europe for generations to come.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I\u2019m delighted that following productive discussions with my German counterpart in the summer, we are speeding ahead with our ambitions to change how millions of people travel between our two countries.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">A direct rail link will support the creation of jobs, strengthen vital trade links and build a sustainable connection that will make international travel easier and greener.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">CEO\u00a0Eurostar, Gwendoline Cazenave said:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We\u2019re thrilled to kick off this partnership with\u00a0DB.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a big step towards making travel between London and Germany more sustainable and effortless. By combining Eurostar\u2019s cross-channel\u00a0know-how\u00a0and new fleet with\u00a0DB\u2019s strong presence in Germany,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0creating a whole new level of connectivity and convenience for our customers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This partnership will help continue to power Eurostar\u2019s growth and bring us closer to our goal of carrying 30 million passengers across our network.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">DB-Vorstand\u00a0Personenfernverkehr,\u00a0Michael Peterson said:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Europe is coming together ever more closely by rail. In cooperation with Eurostar, we also want to bring Germany and the\u00a0UK\u00a0closer together at high speed. We are convinced of the\u00a0great potential\u00a0of such a direct connection.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, this project also shows that new cross-border long-distance services are often only possible through partnerships like this, due to complex framework conditions.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn plan direct London\u2013Germany high-speed rail by early 2030s, making travel greener and easier. direct&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5310],"tags":[154892,191398,2574,748,1881,8534,47863,191399,2000,299,1535,6693,16756,1824,257,5026,7574,50172,191400,1263,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-613709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-germany","8":"tag-alexander","9":"tag-bahn","10":"tag-berlin","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-british","13":"tag-cologne","14":"tag-db","15":"tag-deutsche","16":"tag-eu","17":"tag-europe","18":"tag-eurostar","19":"tag-frankfurt","20":"tag-german","21":"tag-germany","22":"tag-london","23":"tag-minister","24":"tag-president","25":"tag-prime","26":"tag-steinmeier","27":"tag-transport","28":"tag-uk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115666759395579580","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}