Mark Smith, a widely-recognized rail expert who operates the Man in Seat 61 website, has a plan to rescue the financially-crippled operations of Eurostar, which is pleading for financial help from France and the UK.
The rail operator, which is down to two trains a day each way through the Channel Tunnel, down from nearly forty in peak times, has warned that it cannot continue even that level of service without help. Aside from its own costs, it pays per-train fees to the tunnel operator which don't go down to match the passenger count.
Smith has suggested a way around Britain's reluctance to help fund a rail link that is 55% owned by France's state-owned railway system. He's proposed that the UK put up the support needed to keep the operation alive, along with aid that's being asked of the French government; in return, the UK would take about a quarter of Eurostar's second-newest train sets as collateral.
Smith points out that the 750-passenger trains, recently upgraded, could either be leased back to Eurostar when business picks up, or could be leased to another operator to operate competing cross-Channel or other service. The former seems a possibility; there has long been a plan to open the tunnel to competitors, but the lack of tunnel-certified rolling stock has been one of the obstacles. German operator Deutsche Bahn has long been interested.
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