MOVE over St Pancras – there’s a new kid on the block for rail services to Europe.
Lord Sadiq Khan has revealed plans to launch trains to Europe from Stratford International Station within the next four years.
Despite its name, the station has never had international services, but according to The Standard, the station is set to undergo a £20million project to launch trains to France by 2030.
One in three trains to and from France could stop at the station under the new plans – being a stop on services, rather than a new origin or destination station.
It’s predicted that the stop would add five to eight minutes to the overall journey time.
Sadiq Khan told The Standard: “We’ve been working closely with the Government to make Stratford International truly ‘international’ for the first time – opening up new opportunities for jobs, investment and tourism, while connecting one of the UK’s fastest-growing economic centres directly to Europe.
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“It’s time to unlock the full potential of this station and help write the next chapter in Stratford’s remarkable success story as we continue building a better, greener, more prosperous London for everyone.”
If trains to Europe did launch at Stratford International Station, around five million people in and around London would have better access to international rail services.
Services could run to Paris, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
And eventually, there could be trains to Germany and Switzerland as well.
The current plans are also backed by a number of businesses as well as the train drivers’ union Aslef.
Stratford International finished construction in 2006 with four platforms.
However, the two platforms for international services as well as the area for international passengers have remained abandoned for the past two decades.
In order for the area to open, more work would need to be done including making the flow of passengers through security more efficient.
The station would be able to handle around 250 to 300 passengers at a time.
Meanwhile, Virgin is set to launch services from London St Pancras also by 2030, competing with Eurostar.