SBB, SNCF and Eurostar sign MoU for direct Switzerland–London train

SBB, SNCF Voyageurs and Eurostar signed a letter of intent on 11 May 2026 to study a direct rail service between Switzerland and London through the Channel Tunnel. The journey would take about five hours from Basel, but no launch date has been set.

SBB is leading the technical studies on behalf of the Swiss Federal Office of Transport. The three operators had prepared the ground in stages: SBB and SNCF Voyageurs expanded their cooperation agreement in March 2026, and Eurostar joined the project two months later.

Early market studies put the journey at roughly five hours from Basel, five and a half from Geneva and six from Zurich. SBB said those times would "meet travellers' expectations." London is the most popular air destination from Switzerland, a fact that suggests potential for modal shift.

Border controls and rolling stock: two open questions

The project rests on an intergovernmental agreement signed in May 2025 by Swiss federal councillor Albert Rösti and British transport secretary Heidi Alexander. That agreement set a framework for direct rail cooperation, but several technical and legal hurdles remain.

UK entry formalities would need to be carried out in Swiss stations, which requires new bilateral agreements and purpose-built border facilities that Zurich, Geneva and Basel do not yet have. Securing train paths through three national networks and the Channel Tunnel itself will demand coordination among infrastructure managers in Switzerland, France and the United Kingdom.

Rolling stock could come from Eurostar's order for up to 50 Celestia double-deckers from Alstom (30 firm, 20 options), announced in October 2025 and worth €2 billion, with Geneva named among possible destinations. Built on Alstom's Avelia Horizon platform, each 200-metre Celestia will seat around 540 passengers. Deliveries are scheduled from May 2031. However, certifying a train for three separate signalling and safety regimes is a process that has historically taken years, and no timeline for Swiss homologation has been published. SBB has said a launch could come "at the earliest in the 2030s," a cautious phrasing that acknowledges the scale of the remaining work.

Sources: SBB via bluewin.ch (11 May 2026); International Railway Journal; Railway News; Global Railway Review, Celestia order.

Photo: a TGV at Geneva-Cornavin station. Florian Pépellin, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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