CONCERNS GROW OVER EUROSTAR RAIL SERVICE LINKING UK, EU

The head of France’s state rail company has sounded the alarm over the future of the Eurostar train service, which connects the UK with continental Europe and has been hurt badly by the halt to travel during the pandemic as well as Brexit.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, the CEO of SNCF, which owns 55% of Eurostar, told France Inter radio on Tuesday that “the situation is very critical for Eurostar.”

Passenger numbers on the cross-Channel train service - which reaches UK, France, Belgium and Holland - have been down 95% since March and are currently believed to be less than 1% of pre-pandemic levels.

It comes days after UK business leaders called for a British government rescue of the Channel Tunnel rail operator as border closures enforced to stop a highly contagious virus variant threatened to push the service toward the brink of collapse.

Farandou noted that “today, there is one round trip that runs between London and Paris, and one other that runs between London and Brussels-Amsterdam. And these trains are 10% full.”

He is counting on government aid, as was provided for airlines, but is all too aware of how difficult it will be as there are several governments involved.

“We have to see how we manage to help this company in the way that airlines have been helped. It would not be unusual for Eurostar to receive aid to get through this bad patch.”

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