Overview
- Eurostar signed a roughly €2bn agreement with Alstom for an initial 30 Celestia trains with options for 20 more, to be built in France.
- Deliveries are scheduled to start in January 2031 with commercial services from May 2031, marking the first major double‑deck fleet on the UK mainland.
- Each train will carry more than 1,000 passengers with about 20% more seats than the e320s, plus added legroom, bike spaces and wheelchair areas, with no price difference between decks.
- The new stock will run alongside 17 e320s for a potential fleet of up to 67 trains, supported by an ~€80m redevelopment of the Temple Mills depot in London that Eurostar says would create about 350 jobs.
- A looming Office of Rail and Road decision on Temple Mills access follows bids from Virgin, FS Italiane partners and Gemini, while the taller trains face multi‑system homologation and months of trials before future routes such as Frankfurt and Geneva can start.