Posted 2nd November 2010 | 10 Comments

Eurostar new trains row may not be over yet

EUROSTAR’s apparent victory in court over a challenge to its new trains order from Alstom may not have settled the matter.

Alstom said that it is continuing to ‘pursue alternatives’ after failing to gain a preliminary injunction halting Eurostar’s purchase of Siemens trains.

The French train-builder had sought to block Eurostar's E500 million+ order for ten Velaro units, dubbed e320, on the grounds that the sets do not meet Channel Tunnel safety rules and also that Eurostar's procurement process was flawed.

However, in the High Court on Friday, Judge Geoffrey Vos said that if the injunction was granted and the matter went to a full hearing, it would probably not be resolved until the spring. Such a delay would be ‘costly’ to the travelling public, he added.

Although Eurostar said it was ‘very pleased’, and stood by its processes, Alstom said it was now taking its grievances to the European Commission.

Eurostar wants to use the 320km/h trains to extend its network in 2014, providing direct services to such destinations as Lyon, Geneva and Amsterdam.

Its present fleet of Alstom-built trains would not be suitable, because there is insufficient room on them for the additional technical equipment which would be required. The matter is made worse by the fact that the Eurostar fleet was built at the start of the 1990s to the smaller British loading gauge, so that Eurostar could use the domestic network in Britain to reach Waterloo.

The opening of the European-gauge High Speed line to London in 2007 means that future Eurostars can be full size. Neither will they need to cope with British domestic signalling and train control systems.

Meanwhile the High Speed line itself, which was dubbed High Speed 1 in late 2006, is set to have a new owner this week, at least for the next three decades.

The government is expected to announce the winner among four consortia who are seeking to obtain a 30-year lease on the route.

Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

  • David P, shaw, England

    I work for a company that repairs the electronics for the Eurostar trains.
    Think its a shame that the new trains are not British built.
    When the Eurostars came into production parts of the electronics where manufactured in GEC Trafford Park Manchester with 2000 + people now its 0.
    Get a grip lets use trains that have some components built or manufactured in the UK.
    Don't care about French or German, Spain, Netherlands, China.
    Think British built.

  • joaquin, london

    A Solomonic solution would be for Eurostar to buy four trains from Siemens and four from Alstom,
    and end of discussion. People could decide which train they like more.

  • Billy C, Paisley, UK

    Boo hoo, the French should concentrate on improving their own product and stop using the tunnel safety issue as a way of delaying the integrated rail system the citizens of the UK deserve.

    Toys being thrown out of a pram ring any bells?

  • Lorentz, London

    The EU Commission is becoming involved because there appears to have been issues with the procurement process. It may not change the outcome, but Eurostar could end up being fined.

    I would also suspect that the position of the Directors of Eurostar would now be under threat, with SNCF attempting to unseat them.

  • Lorentz, London

    Predictable.

    Unfortunately there appears to be reasonable grounds for the Alsthom case given that there are recognised issues with the procurement process.

  • David, Warwick, UK

    I would have thought the EU would put a stop to this under anti competitive rules. Alstom and the French government are only seeking to protect themselves from new train orders going elsewhere.

    Maybe the Germans and other European countries should boycott Alstom by buying new trains from Bombardier, Siemens and China!

  • brian, Beeston (Notts), England

    storm in a tea-cup
    the uk court outcome confirms my suspicion that:
    1) E* followed due process,
    2) Alstom dont have a case,
    3) Alstom know 1&2 and are only doing this for internal and external political reasons

  • DJB, London, UK

    I find it interesting that the main safety issue in the Channel Tunnel is nothing to do with Eurostars, distributed traction or anything else on the passenger trains. The biggest issues have been caused by fires on the Open Freight Wagons - with their open design there is no means to contain the fires, they burn incredibly hot and damage the tunnel. It's happened more than once, causing massive damage to infrastructure, endangering lives and creating months of delays, and yet there is no drive or desire to change those.

    Distributed traction has been used for decades in underground trains with no apparent problems?

    Alsthom is playing the wrong game in trying to obtain a ban the ICE trains because of distributed traction. They should be trying to sell their own AGVs to Germany, Britain, Spain, Netherlands, China and the US etc, and even their own Government to replace the TGV and Eurostar fleets and compete against Siemens... There's plenty of rolling stock out there to be bought, replaced or upgraded.

  • Robert Fielding, Tamworth, England

    Seems to be sour grapes from Alstom who have had monopoly of building high speed trains ( TGV ) for France and locomotives for SNCF

  • Simon Adams, Cardiff

    This saga is ridiculous. It's akin to Tesco taking Sainsbury's to court because people shop there as oppose to Tesco stores!!