Travel to Germany with high speed trains from London in just four hours from 2013
Last updated 10/31/2011 11:23:28 AM
Travel to Germany with high speed trains from London in just four hours from 2013
Londoners and Germans have been waiting for an alternative to air travel for a long time. Finally a very appealing solution seems to be in sight as from 2013 a new high speed train service will allow you hop on a train at London St Pancras and be in Cologne in four hours.
After a successful test run through the Channel Tunnel to the Eurostar terminal at London St Pancras, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn plans to start a full inter-continental service in 2013.
Travel time from Cologne and Amsterdam to London is expected to be under four hours and from Frankfurt just over five hours.
Currently, only Eurostar has the use of the Channel Tunnel, giving it a total monopoly on trains to Europe, with passengers changing at Brussels to reach other destinations.
But the new route will see German trains travel from London to Brussels, where they will split, with one half going on to Rotterdam and Amsterdam and the other to Cologne and Frankfurt, without the passengers having to disembark.
The chairman of the DB Management Board, Dr Rutiger Grube, said, "by making full use of the opportunities afforded by the liberalisation of the European rail transport market we are able to offer our customers genuine alternatives to air travel."