Safeguard Eurostar’s future, say unions

Rail unions have called for urgent action to prevent the collapse of the vital Eurostar link to the continent after the channel tunnel train operator called for a bailout.

Eurostar has been running just a handful of services a day. It is warning it could run out of cash this summer, having seen passenger numbers drop by 95% since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. 

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said the government must “step in now to safeguard the future of this vital green transport link to the continent”.

Ahead of the 2015 general election, the government sold its 40% Eurostar stake to Anglo-Canadian consortium Patina Rail LLP for £750 million, something Cortes described as “an act of vandalism”.

He said that now, in return for financial support, “we must regain that share in ownership which the governments of France and Belgium still enjoy”. The French government has a majority 55% stake in Eurostar, and Belgium 5%.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash called for urgent government action to protect the thousands of jobs and vital infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the ASLEF train drivers’ union has condemned the government after it slashed funding to the body that oversees transport in the north.

General secretary Mick Whelan said: “Transport for the North will lose 40% of its core funding and one-fifth of its annual support in the next financial year.”