French Goverment pledges financial support for Eurostar, but UK Transport Secretary refuses to offer aid.
THE French Government has pledged financial support for Eurostar, although how much and when it will be provided has yet to be determined.
The COVID-19 pandemic has decimated Eurostar’s market, with currently only one train per day running from London on the Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris routes. Passenger numbers were down 99% compared with prepandemic figures, while St Pancras International will be the only UK station to be served by Eurostar until next year.
French Transport Minister JeanBaptiste Djebbari told a meeting of The Committee for Sustainable Development and Regional Planning at the French National Assembly in Paris on January 21 that support was forthcoming, and that discussions were being held with his UK counterpart Grant Shapps.
“The significant drop in traffic in connection with the restrictions linked to COVID-19 raises the question of the Eurostar economic model,” said Djebbari.
“In conjunction with the
British, we are working on aid mechanisms proportionate to the level of everyone’s involvement in Eurostar, so as to ensure the financial sustainability of Eurostar’s economic model, while guaranteeing as much as possible can still operate. Traffic remains relatively low today, but the system is functioning properly.”
Responding to a question in the Assembly, Djebbari said: “We have been discussing this subject for several weeks with Grant Shapps. You have rightly recalled the strategic link that links us, through Eurostar, to our British neighbours. It is obviously from this strategic angle that we approach this eminently political subject.
“When the time comes, we will lay down the principle and the methods of support, which will most certainly go through SNCF.
“I therefore repeat it as explicitly as possible: the state will be present alongside Eurostar so as to maintain this strategic link between our two countries in the manner I was able to describe previously, in proportion to its involvement, in connection with the British authorities.”
In an interview with French media in mid-January, Chairman and CEO of SNCF Voyageurs Christophe Fanichet described Eurostar as “a company on a drip” and said that in France, the company is viewed as a UK business, while in the UK it’s viewed as a French business. Legally, the company is registered in the UK.
The French Government is Eurostar’s majority shareholder, with the country’s state-owned railway SNCF holding a 55% stake, while Belgian state operator SNCB has a 5% stake. The remaining 40% was owned by London Continental Railways but was transferred to the UK Treasury’s books in 2014, and sold less than a year later to a consortium of Caisse de Dépôt et Placement du Québec (30%) and Hermes Infrastructure (10%).
Despite the lack of UK ownership, Eurostar has asked for financial support from this country’s Government, highlighting the higher track access charges it incurs this side of the Channel.
A Eurostar spokesman told RAIL on February 1: “We’re encouraged to hear the positive comments that have emerged to date. Those details aren’t known yet, so at this point we’re waiting to hear from the governments what has been achieved by their discussions.”
A DfT spokesman told RAIL the same day that it recognises the significant financial challenges facing Eurostar as a result of the pandemic, and that the
Government had been engaging extensively with the operator on a regular basis since the beginning of the outbreak.
He said DfT officials were working with Eurostar and other government departments to access financial support schemes where appropriate, and that while discussions continue with the French government, no deal has been agreed.