Europe’s open passenger rail market is becoming a heated battleground for well-heeled national players looking to conquer new turf. Aiming to expand its hold on the continent, Eurostar has just plumped down a king’s ransom, nearly $1.1 billion, to extend service from London to Amsterdam and Geneva, as well as fending off an incursion from Germany’s Deutsche Bahn AG, which is scheduled to begin preliminary rail service to London in advance of a full rollout scheduled for 2013, according to Businessweek. German trains will leave Cologne and Frankfurt on their speedy journey to London.

With its investment to purchase 10 new 900-passenger trains from Germany’s Siemens, and upgrade existing rolling stock, Eurostar will be able to cut down the travel time between London and Paris to two hours from the current two hours and 15 minutes, reports The Telegraph. More than 16 million people rode Eurostar trains in 2009, according to Eurotunnel figures.

The Telegraph writes,

Underpinning the move is belief by the British and European Governments that rail should replace what is regarded as the environmentally less attractive option of short haul air travel.

The Eurostar move has been made possible by the decision to buy a new fleet of trains which will be able to use track in a number of countries, including the high speed line in Britain.

Eurostar operates high speed trains across the Channel Tunnel or Chunnel, which runs 31.4 miles across the Strait of Dover, from England to France. Trains carry passengers, cars and freight between England, France and Belgium. The Chunnel is the longest undersea tunnel in the world at , though the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is longer in total length, the undersea portion of the Chunnel covers a greater distance.

The government of the UK recently began soliciting bids to privately operate High Speed One, the rail line over which Eurostar trains travel on their way to the Chunnel.

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