Germany’s state rail operator has shelved plans for international high-speed services between London, Cologne and Frankfurt due to “changes” in the “economic environment”, The Independent has learned.
Deutsche Bahn (DB) said the services to London would now “not be on the agenda in the foreseeable future”, despite just last year saying they were “still interested”.
The company would neither confirm nor deny whether uncertainty caused by floundering Brexit talks had played a part in their decision to mothball the project, saying they did not want to wade into politics.
DB had already begun early preparations to run the trains, successfully obtaining an operating certificate to run services through the Channel Tunnel in 2013 and even going as far as to display one of its sleek InterCity Express (ICE) units at London St Pancras to drum up publicity.
A high-speed train running from London to Cologne on current infrastructure would take around three-and-a-half hours, with a London to Frankfurt service taking around four-and-a-half – roughly the same time as London-Edinburgh services.
The Times reported in March 2017 that officials at Eurotunnel, who run the infrastructure, had been told by DB that the services would be starting around 2020. DB told industry publication International Railway Journal at the time that they were “still interested” in running in “the medium-term” but declined to confirm a start date.
But a spokesperson for the publicly owned company now told The Independent: “ICE direct services to London will not be on the agenda in the foreseeable future.
“The decisive factors are technical and economic reasons: the ICE BR 407 is not yet registered in Belgium and the economic environment has changed significantly as a result of the price competition with low-cost airlines.
“We ask for your understanding that we won’t comment on political developments like Brexit.”
One reason cited by the spokesperson, that its train model is not registered in Belgium, is technically correct – though similar trains are now used through the tunnel by Eurostar under a different brand name, meaning obtaining clearance to run them should not be difficult.
As well as the uncertainty caused by Brexit potentially affecting the services, there had been some speculation in the railway industry press that the relocation of financial services to Frankfurt from London after the UK leaves the EU could increased demand for a high speed rail link, with executives needing to travel back and forth at speed. This benefit does not yet appear to have materialised. -independent.co.uk