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Eurostar and the competitor landscape

Published: 9 September, 2025 | Tags: ORR, Temple Mills

Bring Back Euro Trains has published a briefing paper to help navigate the complexities of Eurostar’s competitor hopefuls.

Four companies have put forward serious proposals to create a rival service to Eurostar. Their submissions are currently being reviewed by the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), whose job it is to allocate the limited remaining space at the maintenance depot of Temple Mills. Maintenance space is in short supply. It is therefore likely that only the company the ORR chooses will go on to develop the new service.

The ORR will announce their choice by 31st October. Their decision matters to cross-Channel passengers because it is likely to set the tone for at least the next decade.

The four companies are Virgin, Gemini, Evolyn and TrenItalia. Their submissions are available to read on the ORR website (though some are redacted for commercial reasons).

The Rail Minister Lord Hendy has written a letter of guidance to the ORR. He includes this sentence: “…The Government strongly welcomes the fact that several new entrants are exploring the possiblity of serving … the currently unused Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford International stations.”

The view from Kent

Naturally, BBET supports Lord Hendy’s stated desire to return the international service to Kent. We hope the ORR will make this a condition of allocating space at Temple Mills.

Here is our briefing paper entitled Eurostar and the Competitor Lanscape:

For more a more general overview of the companies’ submissions and their relative merits, we strongly recommend Jon Worth’s interview with Green Signals which we describe here.