As lockdown restrictions ease and we start to consider travelling again, the future of cross-Channel operator Eurostar remains uncertain.
Eurostar is seeking financial support from the UK Government, citing higher access charges here as a reason.
The French Government has pledged to provide support for the operator, while £200 million has been provided by one of its shareholders, Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (CDPQ) and Hermes Infrastructure.
Registered in the UK and supporting 3,000 jobs either with the business or in the supply chain, the company is, however, 55% owned by SNCF (French state rail), 40% by CDPQ/Hermes and 5% by SNCB (Belgian state railways).
So: Should the UK Government provide financial assistance to Eurostar?
Was this article useful?Watch the video below for interview with Rob Shorthouse of ScotRail, in regards to the volume of passengers on the Borders Railway and the overcrowding and cancellation issues.
This video is from the Borders Start to Finish series, which is due to be released on boxset in November 2015. https://vimeo.com/143815385
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Dave H - 01/11/2015 01:12
Car parking will be better used if the all day space blocking by 1 person making a daily commute was freed up. Surbiton, a London station with major rail-heading abuse was turned around, by encouraging cycling and public transport use by commuters - as a result 25% of spaces are available at 09.30 Why blame Scotrail for the ill planned interface between Network Rail data and the National Rail ticketing & reservations software packages, it is long standing with no safety back-up to allow beta tested transfer and changes. Trainline is not part of ATOC/RDG, and thus makes many problems when the public see Trainline as the best deal/experts. The other detail not covered, is that of steadily building in of potential to enhance the route as the operational case gets developed. Very frustrating that some of the structures have been built with features which will require disruption of the existing service to add to the double track sections - can any future work be delivered as we did in BR days, with, wherever possible, the works designed and completed with detail ready for later additional work. I nearly worked for Don Heath (BRB Electrification Group) in the 1980's and they had a regular input to all major civils work on non-electrified lines, do that mounting points for OHLE, space for access and substations was left/provided for in the preceding works, avoiding revisits, and enabling them to deliver better estimates based on good site survey data from earlier work Why employ a contractor, recording announcements, who has no knowledge of UK pronounciation - it is Stow-away , Stow on the Wold, Stowing luggage? Better get this sorted before the extension to Hawick?
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