Who’s leading the race to run rail across europe?

The opening up of the European rail market is prompting existing operators and new ones to lay plans for competitive services. But the playing field is not yet truely level, says James Dark

Meeting in Paris: Eurostar and Thalys are both part owned by SNCF, but the future could see less cosy relationships between the different cross-border operators.

Meeting in Paris: Eurostar and Thalys are both part owned by SNCF, but the future could see less cosy relationships between the different cross-border operators.

International Union of Railways (UIC)

International Union of Railways (UIC)

Trenitalia runs its Freccia Rossa (Red Arrow) high-speed train at up to 300 kph. The company has faced competition on the cross-border route to Verona from Germany and Austria. It is aquiring 50 more V300ZEFIRO high speed trains in a joint order worth a total of €1·54bn placed with Bombardier Transportation and AnsaldoBreda.

Trenitalia runs its Freccia Rossa (Red Arrow) high-speed train at up to 300 kph. The company has faced competition on the cross-border route to Verona from Germany and Austria. It is aquiring 50 more V300ZEFIRO high speed trains in a joint order worth a total of €1·54bn placed with Bombardier Transportation and AnsaldoBreda.

High speed trains in Barcelona. Spain is considered to be behind schedule on opening up to competition.

High speed trains in Barcelona. Spain is considered to be behind schedule on opening up to competition.

This summer, a series of announcements by Deutsche Bahn, Eurostar and SNCF underlined the fact  that the major European rail  operators are beginning to prepare for a new era of international competition.

Deutsche Bahn has already applied to run services from Frankfurt and Amsterdam to London through the Channel Tunnel from December 2013, while Eurostar has announced plans to serve a series of new destinations beyond Paris and Brussels, possibly as soon as 2014. Destinations in the...