Type Limited company Key people Nicolas Petrovic (CEO) Subsidiaries Eurostar CEO Nicolas Petrovic (2010–) Founded 1990 Parent organizations SNCF, SNCF MOBILITES | Industry Rail Transport Products Rail Transport Headquarters London, United Kingdom Revenue 857 million GBP (2013) | |
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Owners SNCF (55%)
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (30%)
Hermes Infrastructure (10%)
NMBS/SNCB (5%) Profiles | ||
Eurostar International Limited (EIL) is the railway company operating the international Eurostar train services between London, Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel. Eurostar was previously operated by three separate companies in Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, but this structure was replaced by EIL as a new single management company on 1 September 2010. EIL is owned by SNCF (55%), Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (30%), Hermes Infrastructure (10%) and NMBS/SNCB (5%).
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Eurostar International is the largest customer of Eurotunnel, the owners of the Channel Tunnel.
History
Eurostar International was formed in 1990 as European Passenger Services (EPS), as the division of British Rail responsible for the UK section of the Eurostar operation. Eurostar trains began operating on 14 November 1994, with EPS, NMBS/SNCB and SNCF were each responsible for the running of Eurostar services in their own territory.
On 1 April 1994, EPS signed a fixed-rate track access contract with Railtrack lasting until 29 July 2052 as part of the plans for Regional Eurostar services.
The privatisation of British Rail saw ownership of EPS transferred to London and Continental Railways (LCR) in 1996. This was part of the contract agreed with the Government of the United Kingdom for LCR build and operate High Speed 1 (HS1) between London and the Channel Tunnel. The company was renamed Eurostar (UK) Limited (EUKL) and was to use the income from EUKL to help finance the HS1 project.
Following financial assistance from the government in 1998, LCR was forced to appoint a management contract for EUKL. Bids for the contract were submitted by Virgin Rail Group and Inter-Capital and Regional Rail, a consortium of National Express (40%), SNCF (35%), NMBS/SNCB (15%) and British Airways (10%). The latter was awarded the contract which was to run from 1998 until 2010.
In January 2009, after the completion of HS1, the UK's Department for Transport took control of LCR and announced its intention to put both HS1 and EUKL up for sale. Deutsche Bahn expressed an interest in EUKL but no sale materialised.
On 31 December 2009, EUKL was renamed Eurostar International Limited (EIL). On 1 September 2010, the three national Eurostar operators merged into EIL as a single company with a single management structure. Following this change, the ICRR management contract for the UK business was terminated. Once all Eurostar assets were transferred to EIL, the holdings in the company were amended to LCR (40%), NMBS/SNCB (5%) and SNCF (55%).
LCR sold a 30-year concession to operate HS1 in November 2010 to a Canadian consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan for £2.1bn. EIL then paid access charges to the consortium to operate Eurostar trains on HS1.
On 4 December 2013, the UK Government announced it was looking to sell LCR's 40% stake in EIL.
In January 2014, in a joint venture with Keolis, Eurostar was shortlisted to bid for the East Coast franchise in the United Kingdom. However, a bid by Virgin Trains East Coast, a consortium of Stagecoach and Virgin, won the franchise.
In June 2014, the UK's 40% shareholding in EIL was transferred from LCR to HM Treasury, and a sale process was launched on 13 October 2014. In March 2015, the Treasury announced it had sold the stake to Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) (30%) and Hermes Infrastructure (10%) for £585.1m. It also confirmed agreement to redeem its preference share in EIL for £172m, raising £757.1m in total.
Fleet
EIL is the owner of 38 Class 373 sets. These consist of 31 Three Capitals Eurostar trains (2 power cars with 18 passenger carriages) and seven North of London Regional Eurostar trains (2 power cars with 14 passenger carriages). Following delivery during 2014 onwards, they will also become the owner of seventeen British Rail Class 374 sets. These are sixteen-carriage Siemens Velaro units which use distributed traction power.