Eurostar may need state support as passenger numbers collapse
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The government may need to put its hands in its pockets to prop up the cross-Channel Eurostar service, the boss of the HS1 line has warned.
Dyan Crowther, who runs the rail link between London and the Channel Tunnel, said that the operator had slashed the number of services it was running due to the current quarantine regime.
The Sunday Times reported that Crowther told lawmakers last week that Eurostar had not booked any slots for December in an attempt to conserve cash.
Currently, it is operating just five services a day to Paris and Brussels, down from 30 a day prior to the pandemic.
HS1 derives its revenues from selling slots to Eurostar and the Southeastern rail franchise.
As a result in the decline in passenger numbers, Eurostar has been forced to cancel all services from Ebbsfleet and Ashford International until 2022.
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With the government already having taken ownership of the country’s train companies, and Eurostar set to buy just a fraction of the 17,000 slots it purchases last year, Crowther said that long term funding solutions were required.
Unlike UK rail franchises, Eurostar still makes its money from ticket sales.
The company is 60 per cent owned by French state rail firm SNCF. The UK government sold its 40 per cent stake in the business to private companies for £757.1m in 2015.
The Department for Transport said it would “continue to engage with [Eurostar] as part of our efforts to support the recovery of international travel”.
A spokesperson for Eurostar said: As with all international operators, travel restrictions have impacted demand and we are running a minimal service at the moment to enable customers who need to travel to do so in a safe way.
“The current environment is very unpredictable which means we have to monitor demand and update our timetable in response.”