Eurostar is calling on rivals to invest in new depot facilities should they wish to halt the operator’s monopoly on cross-Channel rail services.

It has made the plea just weeks after the regulator, Office of Rail and Road (ORR), said some capacity at Eurostar’s Temple Mills maintenance depot in London could be made available to other operators.

Access to a suitable depot for maintaining and storing trains is a critical requirement for companies to launch services competing with Eurostar - which has run passenger services through the Channel Tunnel since its opening in 1994.

Several organisations developing plans to run trains along the route recently hailed the ORR’s announcement, with Virgin Group stating there were “no more major hurdles to overcome” before it can begin operating.

But Eurostar has now said a report for the ORR by consultants, Ipex, does not support operators’ suggestions that “sufficient capacity [at Temple Mills] existed to meet their needs”.

The company stated it is “investing billions of pounds in new trains, stations and facilities”, but its own growth plans “have not yet been considered” by the regulator.

Despite insisting it “wants to help find solutions” to grow international rail travel, it added the UK needs a “clear national strategy for supporting international rail” with options beyond Temple Mills.

This could include utilising other depots such as Southeastern and Hitachi’s Ashford Train Maintenance Centre, Dollands Moor Freight Yard near Folkestone and Singlewell Infrastructure Maintenance Depot, near Gravesend.

Eurostar’s general secretary Gareth Williams said: “We support competition and growth through international rail, but without serious investment in infrastructure to create more room, we risk not fulfilling the massive potential of sustainable European travel.

“This is an enormously positive problem to solve as the demand and the willing is there.

“Eurostar wants to help find solutions.

“What’s needed now is a big picture vision and investment by any operator who wishes in new depot facilities at Temple Mills and beyond.

“Eurostar stands ready to collaborate with the government and the regulator on a framework that will unlock private investment, grow sustainable travel, and deliver world-class rail services for more passengers.”

London St Pancras High Speed, which owns the high-speed line between London and the tunnel, and London St Pancras station, recently announced it will offer reduced charges to operators running additional international services, stating the line is operating at about 50% capacity.

Fresh hopes of cross-Channel rail services stopping in Kent also appeared to edge a step closer earlier this month.

Italy’s state owned railway company, a co-owner of Avanti West Coast services here in the UK, emerged as another potential rival to Eurostar.

FS Italiane Group has announced plans to launch services through the Channel Tunnel by 2029.

The operator says it’s “studying further opportunities” for services between London and Paris, including a stop at Ashford International for the first time in more than five years.

In total it’s committed to investing one billion euro (£857million) to the project and has already signed a memorandum of understanding with Spanish company Evolyn to potentially develop a partnership.

Evolyn previously announced it was bidding to launch services rivalling Eurostar, as is billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Gemini, chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley.

Since the Covid pandemic, demand for cross-continent railway travel has swelled and Eurostar has enjoyed strong demand on its rail services between the UK and France.

However, the cost of boarding such trains compared to low-cost airfare is still seen as prohibitive, reigniting calls for more competition on the rail network.

Any new Channel Tunnel operator will need to obtain regulator approval.

Eurostar stopped calling in Kent at Ashford and Ebbsfleet International in March 2020 due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

It means Kent residents have to travel to St Pancras International before coming back through the county on their way to Paris and Europe.