Editing High Speed 1 (section)

==== Deutsche Bahn ====
[[File:SiemensVelaroD-InnoTrans2010.jpg|thumb|Deutsche Bahn planned services using Siemens Velaro&nbsp;D trains]]
In November 2007, it was reported that DB, Germany's national train company, had applied to use the Channel Tunnel and High Speed 1 into London. This was denied by Deutsche Bahn, and the bi-national Channel Tunnel Safety Authority confirmed that it had not received such an application.<ref name="highspeedwho">{{cite news |url=http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2007/11/rail-579-who-is-going-to-use-the-new-high-speed-line/ |issue=579 |title=Who is going to use the new high speed line? |date=23 November 2007 |first=Christian |last=Wolmar |author-link=Christian Wolmar |work=Rail |location=Peterborough |access-date=11 May 2009 |archive-date=21 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000227/http://www.christianwolmar.co.uk/2007/11/rail-579-who-is-going-to-use-the-new-high-speed-line/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The plan was delayed by safety regulations as Deutsche Bahn's fleet of [[ICE 3]]M high-speed trains could not be divided in the tunnel in an emergency.<ref name="ES-DB1">{{cite news|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23419061-german-rival-for-eurostar.do |title=German rival for Eurostar |last=Murray |first=Dick |date=19 December 2007 |newspaper=London Evening Standard |access-date=7 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605063102/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23419061-german-rival-for-eurostar.do |archive-date=5 June 2011 }}</ref>

In December 2008, it was reported that DB was interested in buying the British share in Eurostar,<ref name="Times_12 December 2009_DB">{{cite news | url = https://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5327300.ece | title = We'll buy UK's share of Eurostar&nbsp;— and run it better, say Germans | work = [[The Times]] | location = London | date = 12 December 2008 | access-date = 18 December 2008 | last = Webster | first = Ben | archive-date = 11 June 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110611190218/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article5327300.ece | url-status = live }}</ref> which in practice meant buying Eurostar (UK) Ltd., the 100% subsidiary of [[London & Continental Railways]] (LCR), which the British government intended to break up and sell just as it did the other rail-related subsidiary of L&CR, HS1 Ltd.<ref name="Eurotoll">{{cite news |title=Fees for high-speed tunnel link derail Eurostar's gravy train |last=O'Connell |first=Dominic |url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article3671706.ece |work=[[The Times]] |location=London |date=13 March 2008 |access-date=29 May 2009 |archive-date=12 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612141213/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article3671706.ece |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="L&CR_Future">[http://www.lcrhq.co.uk/ London & Continental Railways] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190724052923/http://www.lcrhq.co.uk/ |date=24 July 2019 }} – scroll down to section "About the future".</ref> The buyer of EUKL would become the owner of the 11 British "Three Capitals" Class 373 trainsets plus all seven "North of London" sets, and would also be responsible for the operations of Eurostar traffic within Britain once the management contract with ICRR expires in 2010. [[Guillaume Pépy]], the president of SNCF, who held a press conference the same day, described DB's interest as "premature, presumptuous and arrogant".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-197853897.html |title=2010: A high-speed odyssey |work=International Railway Journal |location=London |access-date=11 May 2009 |last=Barrow |first=Keith |date=1 April 2009 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
SNCF claims to own 62% of the shares of Eurostar Group Ltd. [[Hartmut Mehdorn]], then CEO of Deutsche Bahn, confirmed DB's interest but insisted in a letter to Pépy that DB had only informally requested information and not made any official requests to Britain's [[Department for Transport]].<ref name="AFP_16 December 2008">{{cite news |url=http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-economie/2008-12-16/chemins-de-fer-le-ton-monte-entre-deutsche-bahn-et-la-sncf/916/0/300280 |title=Chemins de fer: le ton monte entre Deutsche Bahn et la SNCF |agency=Agence France-Presse |date=16 December 2008 |language=fr |access-date=23 May 2011 |work=Le Point |location=Paris |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405002137/http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-economie/2008-12-16/chemins-de-fer-le-ton-monte-entre-deutsche-bahn-et-la-sncf/916/0/300280 |archive-date=5 April 2012 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In 2009, [[Getlink|Eurotunnel]] (the owners of the Channel Tunnel) announced that it was prepared to start relaxing the [[fire safety]] regulations, in order to permit other operators, such as Deutsche Bahn, to transport passengers via the Tunnel using other forms of rolling stock.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5018915,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf |title=Deutsche Bahn gets access to Channel Tunnel |date=16 December 2009 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |location=Berlin |access-date=27 September 2010 |archive-date=22 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122132253/http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5018915,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Under the deregulation of European railway service, high-speed lines were opened up to access by other operators on 1 January 2010; the Inter-Governmental Commission on the Channel Tunnel (IGC) announced that it was considering relaxing the safety requirements concerning train splitting. LCR suggested that high-speed rail services between London and Cologne could commence before the 2012 Olympics.<ref name="ES-DB2">{{cite news|url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23801905-the-train-at-st-pancras-will-be-departing-for-germany-via-channel-tunnel.do |title=The train at St Pancras will be departing for … Germany via Channel Tunnel |last=Lydall |first=Ross |date=3 February 2010 |newspaper=London Evening Standard |access-date=7 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206220255/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23801905-the-train-at-st-pancras-will-be-departing-for-germany-via-channel-tunnel.do |archive-date=6 February 2010 |df=dmy }}</ref>

In March 2010, Eurotunnel, HS1 Ltd, DB and other interested train operators formed a working group to discuss changes to the safety rules, including allowing 200-metre trains. The Intergovernmental Commission currently requires trains to be 400&nbsp;m long.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7055789.ece | work=[[The Times]] | location=London | title=Deutsche Bahn may run London to Frankfurt service | date=10 March 2010 | access-date=2 April 2010 | first=Angela | last=Jameson | archive-date=29 June 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629133136/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7055789.ece | url-status=dead }}</ref> Deutsche Bahn carried out evacuation trials in the tunnel on 17 October 2010 with two 200m-long ICE3 trains, and displayed one of them at St Pancras station on 19 October.<ref name=BBCDB /> The current Velaro [[ICE3]] sets do not meet the fire safety requirements for passenger services through the tunnel, but the [[Siemens Velaro##Velaro D|Siemens Velaro D]] sets on order include the necessary additional fire-proofing.<ref name="rg-ice3-chunnel">{{cite news | url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/deutsche-bahn-to-run-ice3-to-britain-this-year.html | title=Deutsche Bahn to run ICE3 to Britain this year | work=[[Railway Gazette International]] | location=London | date=29 July 2010 | access-date=30 July 2010 | archive-date=1 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201082947/https://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/deutsche-bahn-to-run-ice3-to-britain-this-year.html | url-status=live }}</ref> In March 2011, the European Rail Agency decided to allow trains with distributed traction to operate in the Channel Tunnel.<ref>{{cite press release |url= http://www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/en/press/press__information/passenger__transport/20110322__db__ice__services__london.html |publisher= Deutsche Bahn |title= ERA Channel Tunnel report is a welcome first step for Deutsche Bahn's high speed ICE services to London |date= 22 March 2011 |access-date= 17 April 2011 |archive-date= 5 May 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110505013818/http://www.deutschebahn.com/site/bahn/en/press/press__information/passenger__transport/20110322__db__ice__services__london.html |url-status= live }}</ref> DB is planning three services a day to [[Frankfurt]] (5h from London), [[Rotterdam]] (3h) and [[Amsterdam]] (4h) via Brussels<ref name=BBCDB>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11567753 |title=German rail firm DB competes for Channel Tunnel routes |date=19 October 2010 |work=BBC News |location=London |access-date=19 October 2010 |last=Scott |first=Richard |archive-date=20 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020131924/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11567753 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.rharchive.info/Issue285.pdf | title=Deutsche Bahn to start commercial services from London in 2013 | work=Railway Herald, Issue 285 page 9 | date=26 September 2011 | access-date=27 September 2011 | url-status=usurped | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111016022702/http://www.rharchive.info/Issue285.pdf | archive-date=16 October 2011 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> from 2015. This had originally planned to be 2013, but has been delayed due to the availability of the Channel Tunnel version of the Siemens Velaro D trains, high rental costs of the French rail network and border controls in their stations.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100254/deutsche-bahn-postpones-london-rail-route | title=Channel Tunnel | work=Business Traveller | date=19 February 2014 | access-date=9 January 2015 | archive-date=9 January 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109184222/http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/100254/deutsche-bahn-postpones-london-rail-route | url-status=live }}</ref> As of 2016, nothing yet has come to fruition, but the High Speed One website continues to state that "HS1 Ltd are working with Deutsche Bahn on plans to incorporate three additional international return journeys, between Frankfurt and London via Cologne, Brussels and Lille. This will include connections from Amsterdam via Rotterdam to London."<ref name="hs1">{{cite web | url=http://highspeed1.co.uk/rail/international-rail-services | title=International Rail Services | website=High Speed 1 | access-date=23 July 2016 | archive-date=23 June 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623130023/http://highspeed1.co.uk/rail/international-rail-services | url-status=dead }}</ref>

In March 2017, it was announced that Deutsche Bahn had revived plans for a London to Frankfurt train service with the service beginning as early as 2020. The service would take around five hours and could rival airlines and become the first competitor for Eurostar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cityam.com/260147/getting-brexit-ready-german-rail-operator-revives-plans|title=Gearing up for Brexit: London-Frankfurt express trains could arrive by 2020|first=Rebecca|last=Smith|date=2 March 2017|website=City AM|access-date=15 April 2017|archive-date=16 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170416125325/http://www.cityam.com/260147/getting-brexit-ready-german-rail-operator-revives-plans|url-status=live}}</ref> In June 2018, Deutsche Bahn stated the plans have been shelved due to a "significantly changed economic environment".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/london-frankfurt-cologne-train-deutsche-bahn-db-eurostar-cancelled-shelved-a8394806.html|title=Plans for UK-Germany high speed rail services shelved due to 'significantly changed economic environment'|last=Stone|first=Jon|date=16 June 2018|website=The Independent|access-date=17 May 2019|archive-date=12 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512144715/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/london-frankfurt-cologne-train-deutsche-bahn-db-eurostar-cancelled-shelved-a8394806.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

In January 2024, DB remarked "transport between London and the mainland through the Eurotunnel remains of fundamental interest to Deutsche Bahn", though noting that the routes and trains were not yet equipped with end-to-end [[European Train Control System|ETCS]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 January 2024 |title=Channel Tunnel: Deutsche Bahn keen on trains to London |url=https://www.dw.com/en/channel-tunnel-deutsche-bahn-keen-on-trains-to-london/a-67973093 |work=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref>