Railway company has also renewed its call for British funding, warning that there is a real risk to the survival of Eurostar. Cross-Channel train has suffered a 95 per cent drop in demand since the beginning of the health crisis as lockdowns and border control measures have hampered travel. Both the French and British governments have in recent weeks tightened border controls with travelers required to show a negative COVID-19 test and to quarantine upon arrival. The measures were in response to the spread of new variants of the novel coronavirus, which were found to be up to 70 per cent more transmissible. If this viable business is allowed to fall between the cracks of support – neither an airline, nor a domestic railway – our recovery could be damaged.
Eurostar, which is majority-owned by France’s state-owned rail company, SNCF, is believed to have tapped into all financial assistance available to them from the French government. But it has received nothing from the British government which has allocated £3.5 billion (€3.93 billion) and £1.8 billion (€2.02 billion) to its domestic railways and commercial aviation respectively. The company said it is encouraged by the government backed loans that have been awarded to airlines and would once again ask that this kind of support be extended to international high-speed rail which has been severely impacted by the pandemic.