The Conservative government likes privatisation. In the 1990s, the Tories under John Major privatised BR (British Rail). Within years, it became defunct. Now they (Tories) are doing the same thing with Eurostar. They sold off Eurostar in 2015 under David Cameron & won’t do anything to save Eurostar because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic & that the numbers of passengers have dropped 95% last year in 2020.
The Conservatives do not have a track record when it comes to trains regarding rail franchises & rail operators in the UK as they are indeed the party of privatisation & that they oppose nationalisation.
Now I am too young to remember British Rail because I was born in 95. With BR became defunct with years of privatisation, it was succeed by National Rail (NR) which has been around since 1999 & Network Rail has been around 2002. Many times I can understand the Trade Unions (those who are affiliated with the Labour Party) that they would rather see the return of British Rail (even it is impossible).
Anyways the point is that rail fares every year have always been rising & yet, the government couldn’t even bother to stop it by making fare prices cheaper & not becoming very expensive as it is expensive at the moment (unless if anyone have a discount railcard). When I was in Spain (2018) and France (2019) on my two holidays before Covid, their fare (particularly on metro trains are reasonably cheap even if it is expensive including they have a fare ticket price for tourists for 7 days, depending the price & the day).
Eurostar fare price is mainly both combination of cheap & expensive. Anyway I didn’t want to be anything about train ticket fare prices other than pointing out of why the Conservative governments does not seem to support nationalisation regarding railways.
And so, they (the government under Cameron) sold off Eurostar in 2015 like they did under Major in the 90s. UK share in Eurostar is 40% to two investment companies who are American and Canadian. Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Hermes Infrastructure.
Grant Shapps, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak can say that Eurostar is not “ours” whatever they like (proving to be totally careless). Well train operators in the UK aren’t British either mostly (few of British firms). rmt.org.uk cityam.com forbes.com independent.co.uk
It is by foreign owned companies. From mostly EU countries (Germany, Italy, Belgium, France, the Netherlands) & non EU like China, Singapore and Qatar as I added four links at the above.
Recently, I was happy to see MEPs from the European Parliament talking about the financial situation of Eurostar. google.co.uk google.co.uk
It is shameful for the UK govt. Lack of support from them because it would be saved with millions of investment if some of government ministers like Transport Secretary Grant Shapps had something to do with it & they would had talk to the French government to find a ways to rescue Eurostar before it goes out of business, becoming defunct & that would be very devastating for both sides across the Channel. The UK and Mainland Europe.
Plus how many blog posts do I have to write before there is a bailout package to save Eurostar? This is a 3rd time that I have to write blog about Eurostar. So the British government better get their action together & do something to save Eurostar before it’s too late.
They (the UK govt) boasts about why the UK is “free”, “sovereign” & “independent country” & not being an member of the European Union. Eurostar however is Cross Channel train service so it is not just international train service, it’s joint European service & it is not even affiliated with the EU so anything concerning Eurostar, British, Belgian, Dutch and French governments would do something about it.
Unfortunately we don’t see that from the UK.
Given I love trains, it will be big shame & heartbreaking if Eurostar is not in service anymore. I hope and pray that should not the case.
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