Until now, the fastest and by far the easiest way to reach the capital of the United Kingdom has been by plane. By train, the journey not only takes more than seven hours from Stuttgart – passengers also have to change trains either in Paris or in Amsterdam and Brussels. But this tedious journey will soon change.
A combination of European railroad lines
Soon, for the first time, you will be able to travel directly from Germany to London under the umbrella of the Eurostar. The high-speed train, which connects the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands, will offer a variety of new destinations following the merger with Thalys. Thalys is also a high-speed train based on the technology of the French TGV and in this case connects Germany with its western neighbors.
This merger would bring together the rail routes of the two networks Thalys and Eurostar. The train combination had already been proposed in 2019, but was put on hold due to the travel disruption caused by the pandemic. The European Commission has now given the green light for the merger. It is part of the EU’s plans to promote high-speed transport as a more environmentally friendly alternative to flying.
Trains on the new routes are expected to operate under the name “Eurostar”. In addition, a fairly large number of routes will be opened on a single network. Currently, Thalys trains run from Dortmund, Cologne and Düsseldorf to Brussels and Paris, but under these new plans you could soon be booking your train journey direct to London!
Even more than you might think, as Deutsche Bahn will be pushing ahead with its expansion plans to integrate into the European rail network in response to this news. Of course, customs procedures resulting from Brexit will remain in place for services to the UK. But the reduction in time and stress following this major change is certainly worth it.