August 2021 update
Has Eurostar been saved?
In May we were told that the £250 million rescue package had ‘saved’ Eurostar.
Jacques Damas, Eurostar CEO
In Business Traveller Magazine of 1st August, the CEO of Eurostar, Jacques Damas, advocates a new air travel tax on flights to northern Europe. This would be used to subsidise track access charges for Eurostar. He says encouraging more Britons to take the train to northern Europe will boost Boris Johnson’s green agenda. He declared that the chances of Eurostar collapsing are ‘zero likelihood scenario’. Just going back to the situation before is not enough, saying that ‘If the UK government is to commit to its CO2 reduction target, it must use the right levers’.
The May rescue package is due to be repaid in March 2022. Also a huge debt approaching £1 billion, these are challenging times for Eurostar. Services in the autumn are being reduced from 4 to 3 per day (2 to Paris and 1 to Brussels and Amsterdam). Eurostar don’t believe demand will pick up anytime soon.
COP 26 Glasgow
Several environmental bodies have organised a special train 30th October to Glasgow from Amsterdam via Brussels taking 9 hours with a change in London. Whether Eurostar will provide a conveniently timed train to London is not known. This is arranged for the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow on the following day. For further information visit https://railtothecop.com/
What do you think?
Should this strategic link UK to Europe being controlled from France?
Should there be competition to Eurostar?
Why no Eurostar service calling at Ebbsfleet/Ashford to 2022?
June 2021 update
18.06.2021
Eurostar was saved last month by £250m investment by SNCF, Shareholders and bank loans, but is it enough?
Reports in the FT in March this year indicated the company was losing £500m in the previous 12 months. So the £250m should see them through to the end of the year.
However at the time of writing France, Belgium and the Netherlands are Covid rated amber status. Travel except for essential purposes is not permitted.
Strategic link now controlled by SNCF?
So why has this strategic link for the UK to the continent not been taken more seriously by the British government? For Grant Shapps to say earlier this year ‘Eurostar is not our company to rescue’ is short sighted in the extreme.
As we emerge from the Pandemic, with new determination to promote greener travel, we have just handed our best chance to the French government aka SNCF. We have lost our opportunity to influence cross channel passenger travel by handing it over to the monopolistic SNCF company.
Will SNCF will continue to treat Eurostar as a luxury train service and frustrate competition. It is not at all clear that passenger levels will return to anything like normal in 2022. It would be unwise to believe that Eurostar will be out of the woods next year. This could be another opportunity for SNCF to tighten its grip!
Alex McWhirter, Consumer Affairs Editor of Business Traveller Magazine
What is happening at Eurostar? April 2021
April 8th 2021
Overview
As was previously reported Eurostar’s passenger volume has fallen by 90% during the Pandemic. Its future remains uncertain as financial support has still not been agreed by France and the UK. Eurostar currently operates a minimum schedule from London of one daily service to Paris and one to Amsterdam (via Brussels). Today the UK’s Rail Delivery group announced that domestic UK services are being ramped up to near normal levels next month.
Eurostar Rescue?
Previously on 4th February, Alex reported that UK government minister Grant Shapps ‘poured cold water’ on the idea of a Eurostar government rescue package. At a select committee meeting Grant Shapps said ‘It’s not our company to rescue – It’s majority owned by the French state (in other words SNCF). We’re very keen for Eurostar to survive, and we’ll wait to see the plan (from SNCF). There have been no further developments since that report. As these are unusual times, Alex is hesitant to make any predictions.
Thalys merger?
The proposed merger in 2021 of Eurostar with Thalys, the operator of high speed. trains from Paris to Brussels, Amsterdam and Cologne, has been postponed. This is owing to financial issues caused by the pandemic. It is unclear when or if the merger will now take place.
Thanks to Alex McWhirter of Business Traveler magazine https://www.businesstraveller.com/opinion/alex-mcwhirter/ for the update.
