Sawt Falasteen - Virgin moves closer to launching Eurostar rival in 2030

The agreement allows Virgin Trains to operate up to 20 daily return services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam from October 1, 2030 to the end of 2040, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said in a statement.

Founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Virgin promises to shake-up cross-Channel rail traffic by challenging Eurostar, which has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel linking Britain and France since it opened in 1994.

"This is an important next step in bringing competition and growth to the market for international rail services," said Martin Jones, deputy director of access and international at the ORR.

"While there is still more work to do, we are supporting Virgin and the wider industry to grow international services," he said.

Before its services can run, Virgin still needs to procure a rolling stock of trains for the route, gain access to other rail networks and obtain safety approvals from British and European Union authorities.

Virgin was granted access last year to the Temple Mills International site for maintaining and storing trains, a critical requirement for an operator to launch services.

Although the Channel tunnel is used only at about 50 percent capacity, previous rival bids for a new service on the line have hit hurdles including regulation and restricted station capacity.

Travellers are hoping that opening the line to competition will drive down prices for tickets that can often be more expensive than Paris-to-London airline fares.

Several companies have announced plans to launch competing services through the Channel tunnel, with Italy's Trenitalia planning to start a rival service by 2029.

Eurostar said it transported a record 20 million passengers last year.

Y.Zaher--SF-PST