Train companies are reported to have discussed the possibility of starting a high-speed service between London and Bordeaux.
Bosses from Eurotunnel and French state-owned rail company SNCF held talks last week about launching a service taking less than five hours from London to the capital of the French wine industry, according to the Sunday Times.
“Not only has [Bordeaux] got the winelands and the weather but it’s a fabulous historic city. There are high speed lines all the way – the opportunity is there,” Eurotunnel said.
Rail travellers from London currently have to change in Paris or Lille to connect to Bordeaux. The Paris route, which involves travelling across the French capital between Gare du Nord and Montparnasse, takes about 5 and a half hours. Going via Lille can take more than seven hours.
The exact route of the new service has not yet been decided. However, it could go via Lille – but without requiring a change of trains – and then use a new 188-mile stretch of high-speed track between Tours and Bordeaux.
Officials envisage one service a week to test the market, increasing to a daily run in peak season. The trains, each carrying up to 900 passengers, could be introduced by 2022. Fares to Bordeaux could be as low as £90 return, it was claimed.
The service would also target some of the 1.4 million passengers who fly from south-west France to the UK every year.
Officials are also examining whether immigration and customs checks could be carried out in Bordeaux for passengers bound for the UK. At present Eurostar passengers travelling between Amsterdam and London have to change in Brussels for passport checks.
It is not clear who would run the service but Eurostar, which operates trains between London St Pancras and Europe via the Channel Tunnel, is believed to be the lead candidate.
A Eurostar spokeswoman said: “We are always interested in new route opportunities but our priority at this time is our new service to Amsterdam.”
HS1 Ltd, the owner and operator of High Speed 1, today confirmed that it was in “advanced planning” with three other international railway operators along the proposed route.
The railway operators are working on pre-planned and agreed timetable slots and train routes, meaning that a new international train operator will be able to get the Bordeaux route up and running in a couple of years.
HS1 chief executive Dyan Crowther said: “As we’ve seen with the recent introduction of the Eurostar London-Amsterdam service, there’s a real demand for international train services to provide a comfortable and better-connected service, especially for leisure journeys.
“This is the first time that railway operators have collaborated in this way and saves the train operator having to do a lot of legwork.
“The route is almost ready for a train operator to turn up and turn the key as soon as the UK and French governments agree on border controls.
“With the right commitment, we could be looking at new services in the next couple of years. The service will take passengers direct from city centre to city centre, taking the hassle out of travel to south-west France.”