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Alstom is in talks to run high-speed, double-decker trains by way of the Channel Tunnel in a transfer that will lower costs and enhance capability, because the world’s second-largest trainmaker seeks to learn from elevated European rail demand.
Chief govt Henri Poupart-Lafarge mentioned the corporate’s trains might enhance visitors on routes from London to mainland Europe, including that its Avelia Horizon would be capable to run by way of the undersea Channel Tunnel.
“The double-decker practice has plenty of benefits. It’s a really high-speed practice with the bottom value per seat and the best capability,” he instructed the Monetary Occasions.
The brand new trains can run at greater than 300km/h and Alstom has already signed contracts to offer them to French rail operator SNCF, though deliveries have been repeatedly delayed and are usually not anticipated till 2026.
Any new trains working on Eurostar’s companies must be accepted by the operator, a course of that may take “some years”, he added. Trains working from London to mainland Europe would additionally must be accepted by regulators and adjust to the Channel Tunnel’s strict security guidelines.
The feedback come amid surging rail demand in Europe and as new suppliers search to compete with Eurostar. Final week, the UK and Swiss governments outlined plans to encourage direct companies between London and Switzerland.
Poupart-Lafarge declined to touch upon business discussions however mentioned “such an order would take years”. He added that the enterprise “talks mainly to all people” and the trains had been designed to function on all main European traces.
“We will suggest [the train] by way of the tunnel,” he mentioned. “Whether or not it’s Eurostar or different rivals, we’ll see.”
Rail suppliers together with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and the Italian state-owned railway are additionally exploring new companies to problem Eurostar’s 30-year monopoly on the hyperlink from the UK to mainland Europe.
Securing new trains which are licensed to run by way of the Channel Tunnel stays one of many largest challenges for the proposed new entrants, business specialists have mentioned.
Alstom has benefited from rising competitors on routes in mainland Europe, signing an €850mn contract to offer and preserve 12 of its double-decker trains for Proxima, a newly established personal operator in France.
Poupart-Lafarge mentioned that modernisation of European rail infrastructure and elevated visitors would additionally profit the corporate within the years forward. It has already seen current order development in Germany, together with a €3.6bn contract to offer commuter trains for the S-Bahn Rheinland community in western Germany.
Robust demand in Europe helped the enterprise report a rise in orders to €19.8bn within the 12 months to March 31, a rise of 4.7 per cent, and barely forward of analysts’ estimates.
The enterprise has additionally diminished its debt load from €3bn on the finish of March 2024 to €434mn the next 12 months. Final 12 months, the corporate was rocked by a money move warning linked to slower than anticipated deliveries and points with contracts inherited from Bombardier, the Canadian firm it acquired in 2021.
It launched a €1bn capital increase in Might to assist lower its debt and offered off a US signalling enterprise, in addition to promoting a German rail manufacturing unit to defence firm KNDS, which plans to repurpose the location to construct tanks.
Poupart-Lafarge mentioned its debt challenges “appeared to be water below the bridge”, including that the corporate wouldn’t search to dump any extra divisions.
Nevertheless, the corporate is not going to pay a dividend for the 2024-25 fiscal 12 months, with Poupart-Lafarge saying it will achieve this when it was in a “impartial money scenario”.
