London-Europe rail travel is gearing up for another shake-up, as one more serious new rival is coming to both Eurostar and Virgin on the Paris-London route by 2029. If all goes to plan, the Channel Tunnel could finally see multiple competing high-speed operators running direct trains between the UK and mainland Europe on one of the continent’s busiest corridors.
A brand new direct train from UK-Europe is coming
FS Group, Italy’s state-owned rail giant, wants to launch a new high-speed service between London and Paris via its Trenitalia France subsidiary by 2029. The move is part of a wider multibillion-euro European expansion that aims to position the company as a major player beyond Italy’s borders.
The planned London-Paris link sits inside FS Group’s 2025-2029 strategic plan, with around EUR 1 billion earmarked for new high-speed connections across Europe. The UK would become the fourth country where Trenitalia operates high-speed trains, after Italy, France and Spain.
Unlike Virgin, FS Group lost its bid for access to the Temple Mills International depot in east London, the only British facility currently equipped to handle continental-length high-speed sets. Rather than drop its ambitions, the operator is simply shifting its base across the Channel.
FS Group plans to build a new £87 million maintenance facility just outside Paris, capable of housing a fleet of around 10 high-speed trainsets.
Only one train, the first departure out of St Pancras would need to stay overnight in the UK, cutting reliance on scarce British depot capacity.
How it challenges Eurostar and Virgin
The Channel Tunnel is currently only running at around half its potential capacity, leaving room for more operators alongside Eurostar’s long-running services and Virgin’s planned new trains from 2030. FS Group clearly wants to be first out of the blocks before Virgin starts running passengers through the tunnel.
Virgin has regulatory clearance linked to Temple Mills and is aiming for a 2030 launch, ending Eurostar’s 30‑year near-monopoly. FS Group is targeting 2029 and has floated ambitions of running up to 10 daily round trips between London and Paris, using new-generation high-speed trains similar to Italy’s Frecciarossa fleet.
All the UK to Europe train plans in the making
Eurostar is already up and running, relying on the existing Temple Mills depot for its services from London to Paris, Brussels and planned expansions to Germany and beyond. Virgin aims to launch around 2030, using the new Temple Mills access in east London to run fresh high-speed trains through the Channel Tunnel to mainland Europe. FS Group via Trenitalia targets 2029, building a new £87m depot near Paris to base its high-speed fleet there and kick off a direct Paris-London link with broader cross-border ambitions.
There are still hurdles, from Channel Tunnel safety and rolling-stock approvals to commercial agreements and border controls but the direction of travel is clear: the London-Europe rail map is about to get much more interesting. If FS Group hits its 2029 goal, passengers could be riding Italian-designed trains between St Pancras and Gare du Nord before Virgin even leaves the starting blocks.