Passengers will have more choice of international train services through the Channel Tunnel, regulator the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said.
It said it will allocate spare capacity at Eurostar’s Temple Mills maintenance depot in north-east London to either one new operator or Eurostar itself, which has plans to grow.
Eurostar holds a monopoly in running passenger services through the Channel Tunnel.
Other organisations developing proposals to launch rival services include billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Italy’s state-owned railway company FS Italiane Group, and Gemini Trains, which is chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley.
Access to depot space for maintaining and storing trains is a critical requirement for new operators or Eurostar to boost services.
From London St Pancras, Eurostar serves Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, as well as running seasonal ski trains to the French Alps.
Getlink – the French owner of the Channel Tunnel – believes there is the potential for services between London and locations such as Bordeaux, Cologne, Frankfurt, Geneva, Marseille and Zurich.
The ORR’s deputy director for access and international, Martin Jones, said: “The growing appetite to provide international rail services is great news for passengers.
“We now need operators to set out more detail on their proposals at pace, and will work quickly and as thoroughly as possible to determine the best use of capacity at Temple Mills.”
The regulator said it expects to reach a conclusion later this year.
