New budget train line to challenge Eurostar – with ‘cheaper’ routes from the UK to top European destinations
ANOTHER train operator has revealed plans to take on Eurostar - and it is great news for Brits.
New Dutch operator Heuro has announced plans for routes between London, Amsterdam and Paris.
Named as a competition between "high speed" and "Europe," the plans reveal 15 daily return services between London and Amsterdam, compared to Eurostar's four.
And 16 daily services would run between Amsterdam and Paris.
Father and son Roemer and Maarten van Biggelaar, who are also business partners, as the team behind Heuro.
Roemer van Biggelarr told that the number of flights between the holiday destinations made "no sense" with 55 flights between London and Amsterdam a day.
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He added: "These people are much better off taking the train and here we have this wonderful tunnel under the channel which is underused."
And he said that the more frequent services would reduce ticket prices, which can exceed £100 during peak times.
They are currently approaching companies to raise the funding to launch, having already had investments from New York and Switzerland.
He said: "We are getting advice from former directors of Dutch Rail - we think we can pull this off."
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The routes could launch by 2028.
But Heuro is just the latest in a line of train operators challenging Eurostar, which has been forced to scrap a number of popular routes in recent months.
Richard Branson could re-enter the train market with routes between the UK and Europe.
Having run Virgin Trains from 1997 to 2019, the operator's ex-boss Phil Whittingham is believed to be launching the challenge against Eurostar, the Telegraph reported.
And Start-up operator Evolyn has revealed plans to launch London to Paris train services with non-stop routes from 2025.
An Evolyn spokesperson said it would be the "first competitor in 30 years" of Eurostar.
The challenges come as Eurostar has ditched a number of popular routes.
Despite initially calling at three stations in the UK, stops at Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International were suspended during Covid, with no plans to reopen them until at least 2025.
Now Brits can only travel via London St Pancras.
The Disneyland Paris services, which first launched in 1996, were scrapped earlier this year.
And routes from the UK to Amsterdam, which launched in 2018, could also be suspended next year.
There are some new train routes being started elsewhere in Europe too.
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This includes new European Sleeper routes between Brussels and Prague next year, while Midnight Trains hopes to launch services from Paris to Milan and Venice.
Brits would be able to join both services by Eurostar, which operates to both Brussels and Paris.
