An Italian rail company has plans to operate services between London and Paris in a challenge to Eurostar. Italy’s state owned rail firm, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS Group), has teamed up with US private investment company, Certares, to establish a high speed rail link between the two capital cities by 2029.
FS Group’s Trenitalia France subsidiary will pursue the project which includes keeping trains in a new £87million facility outside Paris, rather than in the UK. A FS Group spokesperson said: “The company intends to further expand its network with the addition of the Paris–London route and the launch of additional cross-border services.
“The partnership [with Certares] aims to position France, the Paris-London corridor and the future areas included in the joint venture as showcases for the future of sustainable European transport, for the benefit of French, UK and European customers.”
Trenitalia France already runs services to Lyon, Marseille and Paris. Across the Channel, the firm is considered a key competitor to SNCF, France’s state-owned railway company.
Its Paris to London plan poses a further challenge to Eurostar’s monopoly on the Channel Tunnel route, with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin rail group having already been granted permission to store trains at the Temple Mills International depot in east London.
That decision meant Virgin was all set to become the first operator to challenge Eurostar’s dominance.
But if FS Group’s service launches in 2029 it may beat Virgin by a year as Sir Richard Branson’s operator was reportedly planning to start running services on the route from 2030.
Certares will reportedly contribute £260million (€300m) to boost FS Group’s international expansion, according to a figure reported by The Independent citing both companies.
Virgin Group announced in March 2025 that it was aiming to raise £700m in funding for its plan to run services between the UK and mainland Europe.
The company wants to run services between London, Paris and Brussels, with future plans to add Amsterdam to its schedules.
A spokesperson told Reuters news agency at the time that the cross-Channel route is ripe for change and would benefit from competition.
Eurostar told the FT it welcomed rail services being developed in Europe, hailing competition as an example of the growing demand for rail travel in the continent.
Virgin’s plans received a major boost in October when the Office of Rail and Road ruled Virgin Trains would be allowed to use the Temple Mills depot, a condition the company said needed to be met in order to secure financing for its plan.