Trains could be whisking passengers from York to Paris by January - if Virgin boss Richard Branson gets his way.

The tycoon wants to launch a direct service from the north to the French capital, via the Channel Tunnel, after a series of delays and broken promises by Eurostar, which was recently asked by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott to urgently review the feasibility of through-trains.

The company said yesterday it was still not ready to launch the service because further safety checks were needed on the West and East Coast lines.

And a spokesman said that when these have been completed, it intends providing services down the West Coast line before running any trains down the East Coast route via York.

The delays have hit not only North Yorkshire people who would like a holiday in Paris but also the York tourist sector, which would expect a boost from extra Continental visitors.

But now Virgin says it wants to run such a service, at its own risk and without public subsidy, from January 1999.

Chairman Richard Branson said in a letter to York MP Hugh Bayley that it had put forward a proposal to the chairman of Eurostar owners London & Continental Railways (LCR) for Virgin to run regional Eurostars.

Virgin has developed a detailed business plan, which envisages one "Virginstar" service a day from Glasgow and Edinburgh, stopping at York at about 11am and arriving at Paris Gare Du Nord before 5pm.

"Virgin's plans can be taken forward immediately," said Mr Branson, whose company wants to lease seven regional Eurostar trains from LCR for £3.5 million a year.

"Considerable amounts of taxpayers' money have been spent on the regional Eurostars. We believe strongly that these trains should be used for the purposes originally intended by Parliament."

Mr Bayley backed Virgin's bid, saying: "Eurostar has had the right to run this service for years and has failed to deliver the service that the public wants."

A report to City of York Council's Economic Development Board is urging members to seek further details from Virgin and, if acceptable, press the Government to grant the company permission to run the service.

But Virgin said it only needed the agreement of LCR, with open access already available to the Channel Tunnel.

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