Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group says there are “no more major hurdles to overcome” before it can begin operating passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel following a determination by the rail regulator.

The company owned by the billionaire entrepreneur made the claim after the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) said some capacity at Eurostar’s Temple Mills maintenance depot in north-east London could be made available to other operators.

Access to a suitable depot for maintaining and storing trains has been cited by the industry as a critical requirement for companies to compete with Eurostar, which pulled its services from Ebbsfleet and Ashford in 2020.

But Ashford MP Sojan Joseph says Virgin is interested in bringing services back to Kent’s two international stations.

He told KentOnline he and fellow Members of Parliament had met with the company a few weeks ago.

The Labour MP said: “I'm very positive that they are considering Ashford as one of their stops.

“They couldn't confirm whether they will be stopping in Ashford and Ebbsfleet on day one, but that's not been ruled out.”

The ORR made its statement after receiving an independent report it commissioned to investigate the issue.

The regulator said: “Eurostar’s London depot would be able, if required, to accommodate additional trains.”

It added: “Changes to operational and maintenance arrangements at the depot, as well as possible alterations to infrastructure, would be required to access extra capacity and allow more trains to be stabled/maintained there.”

Eurostar holds a monopoly on running passenger services through the Channel Tunnel, which opened in 1994.

A Virgin Group spokesperson said: “Finally, a green signal for competition. The Temple Mills depot is the only facility in the UK which can accommodate European-style trains and claims suggesting it was at capacity have been blocking Virgin from coming to the line.

“Virgin is therefore very pleased with the outcome, and we thank the ORR for commissioning this report, which will now unlock competition on the cross-Channel route for the benefit of all passengers.”

Virgin Group was the majority owner of Virgin Trains when it ran domestic services on the West Coast Mainline from 1997 to 2019.

Gemini Trains – chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley – and Spanish start-up company Evolyn are also hoping to run trains through the tunnel.

Andrew Meaney, partner at economics and finance consultancy Oxera, which is advising Gemini Trains, said: “Gemini welcomes that the ORR’s transparent process has determined there is available capacity at Temple Mills International depot and we look forward to working with them as they use their duties to allocate this capacity.”

Eurostar said in a statement that the ORR-commissioned report “confirms” that the depot is “effectively almost full today for major maintenance work and would require investment to meet the growing demands of international rail”.

It went on: “The options presented in the report could help create some capacity, but this would not be enough to accommodate the stated ambitions of any single operator.

“This includes the three organisations that have applied to the regulator and the needs of Eurostar itself.”

Eurostar added that it is “willing to invest once again in new maintenance capacity” and “other operators should consider investing in the system as well”.

In February, Kent MPs met with the minister for rail, Lord Hendy, to discuss the return of cross-Channel rail to the county.

He said the Department for Transport would support measures to overcome the issue of other businesses accessing the line.

Earlier this month, the CCO of Eurostar, François Le Doze, said bringing trains back to Kent “doesn’t make sense right now” due to the infrastructure needed.

A petition calling for the company to stop at Ashford and Ebbsfleet again has gathered more than 63,500 signatures.