UK companies call for Eurostar bailout

British business executives have called on the government to participate in a rescue of Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail company hit by the border closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic, media reported.

The London First lobby group said Eurostar needed "

" in a letter to UK Finance Minister Rishi Sunak, which Bloomberg News was able to consult.

This letter was signed by 25 leaders and academics.

Until recently, Eurostar was a symbol of the ease of running TGVs in Europe.

But the company - majority owned by SNCF - found itself paralyzed by the new coronavirus crisis, its platforms and special facilities in Paris, London and Brussels being almost deserted.

More than one return trip per day Paris-London

Currently, the group only offers one round trip per day between Paris and London, while before the pandemic, Eurostar ran two trains per hour during peak periods.

"

" Christophe Fanichet, CEO of SNCF Voyageurs, the passenger unit of the network, said on January 15.

The company, which runs high-speed trains between London and the mainland, lost 85% of its passengers in 2020 and is "

", he said.

And movement restrictions are tightening: Paris now requires travelers from the United Kingdom to test negative before leaving, followed by a quarantine of seven days in France and a second PCR test, while the Great -Brittany has also adopted new quarantine measures.

Eurostar is 55% owned by SNCF, 40% by the Patina Rail consortium - made up of 30% of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and 10% of the British fund Hermes Infrastructure - and 5% by the Belgian SNCB.