The United Kingdom and Switzerland Open Way for Direct Rail Link

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The governments of the United Kingdom and the Swiss have exposed plans to encourage train companies to launch direct services between London and Switzerland, to try to deepen in demand for long -distance railway travel expansion in Europe.

The two governments on Friday announced a Memorandum of Entesa to “lay the foundations for future commercial services”, linking the two countries through the channel tunnel railing Link.

A direct service would aim to appeal to both business and leisure travelers, and reduce London’s travel time to Geneva to about five hours, according to people in the industry. At the moment, the same trip takes about 7.5 hours by train with a transfer to Paris. A flight to Geneva from London takes about an hour and 40 minutes.

A direct rail service would present logistical challenges due to the need to build border infrastructure at the Swiss stations and for any new operator buy trains compatible with the strict Canal Tunnel Safety Rules. Governments said they would explore ways to overcome these barriers.

An option that is explored is to create temporary “modular” border controls and safety screening at the Swiss stations, as this would maintain the downward costs, said a person involved.

Demand for long distance railway travel in Europe has begotten From the coronavirus pandemic, partly due to the environmental concerns of passengers around flying, according to the industry executives.

“We welcome the steps to strengthen sustainable trips between the United Kingdom and Switzerland … This is a first step in a wider plan with our partners to grow connections in the most green way,” said Gwendoline Cazenave, an Euro CEO.

However, several executives warned that the barriers to entry on cross channel remained high and that any new service between London and Swiss I would be years.

Albert Rösti, one of the seven federal counselors in the Swiss government’s executive arm, said that a London service in Switzerland would be an “ambitious goal”, but that “really probable” services would be launched between five and ten years.

The Swiss government said that Geneva, Zurich and Basel stations could take London trains, but should be equipped with border control facilities. The Switzerland Federal Transport Department would present a plan to the Central Government next year on how it could work, it added.

Eurostar is the only company that runs international trains from London to stations in France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), the Switzerland National Railway Company, said that it hosted the plan. He said that the requirements for a direct connection, which would be in the 2030s, would include investment in new high -speed trains.

Several other operators, including the Italian state railway and the Virgin Group of Richard Branson, have requested permission to launch their own London services on the continent, in the most significant challenges yet for the 30 -year monopoly of Eurostar.

The owner of the London High Speed ​​railway line at Tunnel Channel, London St Pancras Highspeed, early this year Financial incentives presented To encourage operators to launch more services between London and continental Europe.

Its CEO Robert Sinclair said that the agreement between the United Kingdom and Switzerland “brings us a step for high -speed direct services between London and Switzerland.”