Germany’s state-owned rail company is looking to run trains through the Channel Tunnel from the historic city of Cologne.
The plan was revealed after a top-level business meeting of the heads of Europe’s largest networks and would involve a partnership with existing Eurostar services.
The plans from Deutsche Bahn would see services reach Cologne from London in four hours and the financial centre of Frankfurt just one hour later.
Some reports in the European media earlier this week claimed the German company wanted to compete with Eurostar.
But a source at the tunnel operator told Yourshepway: “Eurotunnel will not wish to comment on any rumours because one of the companies involved is working alongside us – and the other one has potential to do so.
“But we can say any moves which will result in an increase in traffic using the tunnel will be very welcome.”
Any agreement between the two high-speed train companies would be under the umbrella of the Rail Team Alliance, which includes both businesses as well as the French TGV system and the main railways in Spain, Belgium, Holland and Italy.
Deutsche Bahn recently acquired EWS, Britain’s biggest freight company, which runs four services a day through the tunnel.
It is believed this move showed the German operators the speed and effectiveness of the cross-Channel link.
German ICE high-speed trains also run from the country’s major cities into Paris under an agreement reached earlier this year.
It was the first move to increase the nation’s influence and services across the European rail network.
And, to further increase the possibility of its success, the new £5.7 billion High Speed One line through Kent has been specifically built to accommodate trains from major European networks.
The only possible problem with the proposal to extend Deutsche Bahn’s operations to the UK is that its rolling stock does not meet existing stringent safety requirements.
At present, passenger trains using the tunnel need to be capable of being divided into two in the event of a fire – and the German services do not have this capability.
Locomotives would also have to be modified in order to cope with the different signalling systems and power supplies on both sides of the Channel.
The high-speed rail link is due to open later this month and is designed to accommodate 20 trains an hour in each direction.
At present, however, only three are scheduled until at least 2010.
POSTED: 07/11/2007 12:56:49