When it comes to continental cross-border train travel, it’s highly likely that Eurostar is the first (and only) name that springs to mind. Their smooth, speedy, sustainable services have been transporting passengers through the Channel Tunnel for quite some time now. And for the past thirty-something years, they’ve been the only commercial operator doing so. But it seems as though an ambitious new rail operator could soon be giving Eurostar a bit of a run for its money.
Gemini Trains (a British start-up backed by a Middle East sovereign wealth fund) has recently entered the international train travel chat, announcing its ambitious plans to launch its very own services from London to the likes of Paris, Brussels, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf, and Cologne.
Whilst Eurostar may currently have a rather mighty monopoly on the Channel Tunnel, they supposedly only use around 50% of the slots available on the track. Gemini Trains plans to fill these slots with a fleet of eight electric trains (each of which would have a passenger capacity of over 550), offering 11 daily services to Paris and Brussels before rapidly expanding to various German cities.
The train journey between London and Cologne currently takes around six hours and include a change in the middle. Gemini’s direct services are expected to take around four hours in total, slashing the journey time by a third. Gemini’s trains could hit the tracks as early as 2030 and would offer competitively-priced tickets, comfy seats, decent WiFi, and slightly more swanky business class options, too.
Back in 2025, Gemini revealed that its trains would potentially run from Stratford International instead of St Pancras International. The east London terminal has always been kitted out with the necessary equipment to accommodate international trains (the clue is in the name, after all). But if all goes to plan, Gemini’s services would be the first international trains to use Stratford International as their London terminus.
Adrian Quine, CEO at Gemini Trains, described the company as ‘a disruptor operator which constantly challenges the status quo’ and said that Gemini plans to ‘shake things up by offering new routes, new stations, new trains, new interiors, new cheaper fares and encouraging people to shift from plane to train’.
In an announcement made back in March 2025, Adrian Quine said: “The high-speed line connecting London and the continent through the Channel Tunnel is one of the great rail routes. With a whole new generation choosing trains over planes, there is a great opportunity to bring real entrepreneurial flair and dynamism with competitive fares to Europe’s premier route.”
