British travellers are one step closer to getting a direct train to Switzerland — with significantly slashed journey times.
Most passengers travelling by rail between St Pancras and Geneva change trains and stations in Paris, leading to a total journey time of around seven-and-a-half hours.
This could be reduced to five hours if services ran direct. And, once in Geneva, tourists can hop on and off the city’s extensive transport network without paying a penny.
Anyone staying in approved accommodation, whether that be a hotel, youth hostel, or campsite, is entitled to the city’s Transport Card for free travel for the duration of their stay.
The UK and Switzerland have now reached an agreement in a bid to resolve obstacles to the rail link, including border controls and Channel Tunnel safety regulations, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander held talks on the issue with Swiss transport minister Albert Rosti at London’s St Pancras station on Thursday.
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Ms Alexander hailed the signing of the agreement as ‘an important day’ but acknowledged there is ‘a lot of detail to work through’ before services begin.
Asked for a timeline, she said said: ‘It’s not going to be within the next 12 months, but if we can make this happen I think it will be a fantastic thing for our two countries.’
Mr Rosti predicted that progress on the route will not be ‘as fast as I would like’, but insisted it is ‘really likely’ that services will launch in five to 10 years.
He said the link would be competitive to air travel. Flights from Heathrow to Geneva take one hour and 40 minutes, but factoring in security queues and commuting time to and from airports, a direct train could be faster all told.
Europe’s 8 most beautiful train routes to travel in 2025
Rail travel is enjoying a renaissance, with more people swapping flights for the romance of slow, scenic and sustainable journeys on land.
Metro has rounded up the most beautiful train routes to travel in 2025. Whether you’re looking for an under-the-radar adventure or a luxurious sleeper train, there’s something for everyone.
Read the full list of destinations here or get inspired by the highlights below:
- Cannes to Menton, France – A coastal journey along the French Riviera.
- The Bernina Express, Switzerland and Italy – A Unesco-listed journey through the Alps that crosses the famous Landwasser Viaduct.
- Venice Simplon-Orient-Express – A route from Paris to Istanbul immortalised in cinema through Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express.
Mr Rosti also noted the potential environmental benefits, saying: ‘If you can fill one train with 1,000 people, you can reduce the number of flights from Switzerland by five.’
A joint working group will be established bringing together government and industry experts from the UK and Switzerland to examine how to overcome commercial and technical barriers to launching train services.
It will hold its first meeting in the coming months, according to the DfT.
Robert Sinclair, chief executive of London St Pancras Highspeed, which owns St Pancras station and the high-speed line to the Channel Tunnel, said: ‘This exciting announcement brings us one step closer to direct high-speed services between London and Switzerland, building on the preliminary work already undertaken to ensure that station access and routes are in place to make this a reality.’
Eurostar boss Gwendoline Cazenave said the operator has introduced the ability for passengers to buy tickets for travel between London and several Swiss cities in a single booking, adding: ‘This is a first step in a wider plan with our partners to grow connections in the greenest way.’
Eurostar holds a monopoly in running passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel, but several organisations are developing plans to launch rival services.
In March, Virgin Group announced there were ‘no more major hurdles to overcome’ before it can begin operating.
The company made the positive claim after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) confirmed that Eurostar’s Temple Mills maintenance depot could be used by other train operators.
The depot, trains can maintained and stored, is crucial for other operators to be able to compete. The ORR confirmed that ‘operational and maintenance arrangements’ could be made to make this possible.
One month later, a new potential rival emerged: Italy’s national state-owned railway company, which could turn the whole game on its head.
How to get free business class Eurostar tickets
‘This weekend I went to Paris for 24 hours and did not pay a single penny for my train, there or back. And, I went in business class.’
That’s the claim made by Lucy Josephs, a 25-year-old influencer who describes herself as your ‘type B travel bestie’ on TikTok.
It sounds too good to be true, but for once in this life, Metro has discovered that it’s very much fact — if you sign up as a mystery shopper. Read more about Lucy’s budget hack here.
Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS Group) says it will launch a new high-speed rail service between London and Paris by 2029 that would compete with Eurostar.
The group, which is a co-owner of Avanti West Coast, could extend the route to Marseilles, Lyon and Milan, and is also looking at a possible reopening of Ashford International in Kent.
Eurostar stopped calling at the station March 2020 due to Covid.
Fares on the rail link between the UK and France have soared since the pandemic, but passengers can soon look forward to a change in the game.
There are now six players vying to compete with Eurostar’s dominance over the Channel Tunnel — and experts are welcoming the fight.
‘Any competition is good competition, a new player would obviously help to bring rail fares down,’ Zoe Adjey, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Tourism and Hospitality at the University of East London, told Metro.
She says it’s high time that the UK levels up its rail services, both at home and abroad.
‘When you think back 30 years ago when we first got Eurostar at Waterloo, you should have been able to move to Manchester at the same speed – that never happened,’ she notes.
‘The rail industry hasn’t done what they were supposed to be doing.’
Ms Alexander said the government ‘wants to see a competitive and thriving international rail market’ and is keen to work with London St Pancras Highspeed to ‘maximise the opportunities’ of the Channel Tunnel.
London St Pancras Highspeed has said the line to the tunnel is operating at about 50% capacity.
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