Richard Branson has moved a step closer to taking on Eurostar with up to 20 Virgin trains travelling through the Channel Tunnel every day.
Regulators at the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have granted the billionaire's company approval to run services between St Pancras International in London and the tunnel entrance in Folkestone in Kent.
Richard Branson at St Pancras International station
Virgin now needs to win approval to use the tunnel itself and tracks on the European side.
A Virgin spokesman said its plans - which will ultimately see it running services between London and Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam - were 'moving at pace' and it was on track to meet its 2030 launch date.
The agreement for the UK track covers the period from October 2030 to the end 2040.
It means Virgin Trains has passed another key regulatory hurdle towards starting the international services, after being granted access last October to share Eurostar’s Temple Mills depot in east London to maintain and store trains.
Temple Mills is the only depot that can be accessed from High Speed 1, the line that runs between London and the tunnel.
Eurostar has held a monopoly on passenger services through the tunnel since it opened in 1994.
Branson has previously said it was 'time to end this 30-year monopoly and bring some Virgin magic to the cross-Channel route'.
The ORR said the decision to grant track access on the UK side was 'an important next step' but that there was 'still more work to do' before the new services can run.
Deputy director of access and international Martin Jones said: 'This is an important next step in bringing competition and growth to the market for international rail services, and we welcome the progress Virgin Trains and London St Pancras High Speed have made.
A computer generated image of a Virgin train at St Pancras
'While there is still more work to do, we are supporting Virgin and the wider industry to grow international services.'
For example, Virgin Trains must secure access to other rail networks and obtain safety approvals from the ORR and relevant regulators in the EU ahead of the plans to begin running services in 2030.
A Virgin spokesman said: 'We welcome the ORR’s pre-approval of our track access agreement and the opportunity to bring competition and Virgin’s award-winning customer experience to the Channel Tunnel.'
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