LONDON — Eurostar, operator of the high speed passenger service between London and Europe via the Channel Tunnel, will spend €2 billion ($2.32 billion) on a fleet of up to 50 new double-decker trains to be built by Alstom.
The agreement announced today (Oct. 22, 2025) includes a confirmed order for 30 trains, with an option for an additional 20. The Eurostar Celestia will be a new design based on Alstom’s Avelia Horizon, a bilevel train first built for France’s SNCF Voyageurs. The first trainsets are expected to be delivered in January 2031, with the first six entering revenue service in May of that year. Amtrak’s new NextGen Acelas are based on another Avelia model.
The new trains are expected to increase seating capacity by 20% over current equipment; if run in two-train formation, as is currently the case through the Channel Tunnel, they will offer about 1,080 seats per trip.
“Placing this milestone order marks the concrete realisation of Eurostar’s ambitious growth strategy — to reach 30 million passengers by investing in a brand-new fleet,” Eurostar CEO Gwendoline Cazenave said in a press release. “We’re particularly proud to bring double-decker trains to the UK for the very first time.”
The new trains will be the first bilevels to operate through the Channel Tunnel and the first double-decker trains of any kind in the UK since two experimental commuter electric multiple-unit trainsets ran ran in the London area between 1949 and 1971. While bilevel trains are common in continental Europe, British clearance restrictions generally preclude such trains, but the Eurostar route has greater clearances.
“By choosing Avelia Horizon to renew its fleet, Eurostar is confirming its desire to combine technological performance, energy efficiency and passenger comfort,” said Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge. “This new-generation train, designed to meet the demands of international very high-speed traffic, embodies our vision of sustainable and competitive European mobility.”
Meanwhile back in the good old United States of America……