GERMAN train-builder Siemens has admitted that it will not meet the December 2014 target date for delivering new Eurostar trains, apparently because of safety issues connected in part with the Channel Tunnel. But Eurostar said it was still working on the assumption that it could bring at least some of the new 400m 'e320' sets into service in 2015.
Siemens has already started testing the sets at its Wildenrath test site in the German Rhineland, and Eurostar told Railnews that 'six and a half' sets have been built, meaning that 13 x 200m individual trainsets have been completed – roughly two thirds of the total order for 10 x 400m trains.
The model number 'e320' is based on the fact that the new trains will have a maximum speed of 320km/h. This will be 20km/h faster than the present fleet, which was built more than 20 years ago.
Eurostar will need these sets to add more routes to its network, because they have been designed from the outset to work through from London to such destinations as Amsterdam and Geneva. Technical issues, mainly connected with signalling and traction current, mean that the present trains are restricted in practice to running in Britain, France and Belgium.
The delays are an embarrassment for Siemens, which is also running behind on a programme to build more ICE sets for Deutsche Bahn.
Siemens board member Roland Busch is reported to have told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung that "I admit we underestimated the complexity of the contract," and he would not be drawn on a revised Eurostar delivery date.
Herr Busch also pointed out that full compliance with the regulations of several countries was a complex matter, and that "how long that will take is not only dependent on us".
Eurostar in London is remaining optimistic, although the company conceded that its plans for the introduction of at least one e320 into service in early 2015 may now slip back until later in the year, 'when more than one set might be ready for a simultaneous launch,' according to a spokesman.
The shape of the enlarged Eurostar network is also staying uncertain for the moment. Various destinations in Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland have all been suggested, but the company is declining to take the wraps off its ambitions for the time being.
This may be because it is also set to face competition on international services to London from around 2016, when Deutsche Bahn may start running between London, Germany and perhaps the Netherlands too.