Eurostar may experience competition with Veolia and Trenitalia
Stewart PerryVeolia Environnement, a French company specialising in water and transportation, is in the advance stages of negotiation concerning the development of a high-speed train which services would compete with SNCF, including the rail service group Eurostar services which runs between London, Brussels and the French capital.
Paris-based Le Figaro newspaper revealed that Veolia and Italian rail service provider Trenitalia may begin to be active, as soon as 2012, on routes from Paris to Brussels, Strasbourg and London, thus breaking the Eurostar monopoly for services across the Channel.
Veolia has been entertaining identical talks with commercial passenger giant Air France-KLM, which had demonstrated a definite interest in the launch of a high-speed link between its hubs in both Paris and Amsterdam, but the carrier pulled out of the negotiations last October.
Both Trenitalia and Veolia denied any further comments on theses negotiations but a source close to the companies said the pair were holding talks although a conclusion is yet to be reached.
The news of the potential and certainly eminent rivalry arrives shortly after the opening of the international rail travel to the market in France on December 14 respecting a European directive.
Trenitalia became the first company, as well as the only operator suggesting competition for the SNCF group, to apply for a rail service licence.
The state-owned Italian group aims to also initiate high speed rail service between Milan and Paris as well as Genoa to Pairs.
But here has been some concerns raised by potential competitors saying that the condition s were not right in order to offer any kind of real rivalry ro the SNCF.
The lobby group for potential rival to the SNCF, The French Rail Association, has claimed that the regulations create a difficult business climate for alternative suppliers to the inject the required capital to enter the market.
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Filed under Europe News, Travel News