GERMAN state-owned operator Deutsche Bahn has signalled that its plans to run trains between London and Germany have been placed on hold and may be abandoned, following continuing problems with rolling stock certification which have delayed rolling stock deliveries from Siemens.

DB announced in October 2010 that it wanted to start Channel Tunnel services within the next three or four years, which would have been running by now and providing direct links between London, Frankfurt and Cologne. Other possible destinations included Rotterdam and Amsterdam. It also flirted briefly with an earlier launch in time for the 2012 London Olympics.

A German ICE set was hauled to St Pancras for the 2010 launch event, although the actual trains which DB had planned to use on London services were still only on order at that time. In 2012 the launch date was put back to 2016, but now DB is thinking again about its ambitions.

Reuters has reported that Andreas Busemann, production manager at DB Fernverkehr -- Deutsche Bahn's long-distance business -- said: "We have not entirely given up the goal of going to London. But for now we are concentrating on going to Brussels and Paris. Once that is done, we will think about whether, how and when we will go to London."

He continued: "None of us anticipated that we would have such major problems with certification. In the meantime, the business environment has changed."

Siemens is reported to be giving Deutsche Bahn an ICE 3 set as a gesture of compensation for the delays. Talks over possible further compensation are said to be in progress.

Meanwhile, Eurostar will probably be taking special note of Herr Busemann's use of the word 'whether'. The existing international operator from London is hoping to unveil its next-generation trains soon, possibly to coincide with its 20th anniversary in November this year. Eurostar will be using its 10 new 320km/h Siemens Velaro sets to expand its network, almost certainly to Rotterdam and Amsterdam and potentially northern Germany as well.