Announcing proposals, the trains would run between London St Pancras and both Frankfurt and Geneva from the “early 2030s”.
Eurostar added that the routes would be served by a fleet of up to 50 new trains costing approximately two billion euros (£1.7 billion).
Journey times would be about five hours between London and Frankfurt, and five hours and 20 minutes between London and Geneva.
Eurostar has shared that it has not been decided what stops the services would make, such as Cologne for trains to or from Frankfurt, and whether passengers would be able to get on and off en route.
Eurostar plans for trains to Germany and Switzerland
Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave told the PA news agency many passengers are prepared to take longer train journeys rather than flying as they “want to travel more sustainably”.
She expects there would be strong demand from leisure and business travellers for direct services to Frankfurt and Geneva, which she described as “big financial hubs”.
A number of hurdles must be overcome before services can launch, such as creating sufficient passenger space at those stations, installing new border checkpoints, and securing access to tracks.
Ms Cazenave acknowledged that opening new international train routes requires “time, investments, expertise, a huge amount of energy, and partnerships” but she has “no doubt” the new direct services will happen because of the “willingness” of Eurostar, passengers and governments.
The UK and Switzerland signed a memorandum of understanding last month aimed at establishing direct train services between the countries.
Eurostar will operate the new trains alongside its 17 existing e320s, bringing its total fleet to 67 trains, a 30% increase on today.
Its new fleet will also enable it to boost existing routes, such as increasing its daily return frequencies between London and Paris from 17 to 20.
Meanwhile, the company confirmed it will add a fourth daily return service between St Pancras and Amsterdam from September 9, and a fifth from mid-December.
The operator’s London trains serve Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam, and the French Alps during the ski season.
It also runs services within Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
London-Paris was its strongest performing route in 2024, with 280,000 passengers.
That was followed by London-Brussels (250,000 passengers), Paris-Brussels (160,000 passengers) and Paris-the Netherlands (140,000 passengers).
Ms Cazenave said: “We’re seeing strong demand for train travel across Europe, with customers wanting to go further by rail than ever before and enjoy the unique experience we provide.
“Despite the challenging economic climate, Eurostar is growing and has bold ambitions for the future.
“Our new fleet will make new destinations for customers a reality – notably direct trains between London and Germany, and between London and Switzerland for the first time.
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“A new golden age of international sustainable travel is here.”
A number of companies are developing plans to end Eurostar’s monopoly on operating passenger trains through the Channel Tunnel.
They include billionaire entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Italy’s state-owned railway company FS Italiane Group, and Gemini Trains, which is chaired by Labour peer Lord Berkeley.
