Hello and welcome to today's independent travel broadcast with East Side and

it's Friday the 31st of October and at last some good news for those of us who would love to travel

by train through London to Paris Brussels and Amsterdam but are constantly deterred by the fairs

Virgin trains yes Sir Richard Branson's group, has been given

permission to launch trains, which will take place, we hope, in 2030. Five years might seem

a ridiculously long time, and I would have to agree with you about that. But that, unfortunately,

is a reflection of how long it takes to get the trains to be built, certified, tested and so on.

The limiting factor has actually been space at Temple Mills International Depot in East London.

That's the only place with access to the high-speed one line that runs to

the Channel Tunnel, has space for such trains, and Euro-style uses lots of it at the moment.

There's been competitors such as Trinitalia, Evelin of Spain and the Gemini project, which would bring trains to Kent stations.

They appear to be out of the running.

But Lord Peter Hendy does say that he hopes that there will be more depot space made available.

Were that to happen, it would, of course, improve things.

So, what is this going to mean? Well, it's

actually bad news for the airlines, because they've been doing really quite well recently.

I was just looking at fares tomorrow for travelling on Eurostar. It's going to cost you a minimum of

£219, which is exactly 150% more than EasyJet from Luton.

Of course, you get city centre to city centre transport, you've got plenty of baggage allowed,

and it's a straightforward and generally stressed-free journey.

Eurostar has some good and innovative pricing under £40 at times,

but actually, if, like many people, you need to book fairly late,

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