ACT TO PREVENT EUROSTAR COLLAPSE

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2021 :: RMTnews 10 RMT has called for urgent, decisive and co-ordinated action to prevent the collapse of the vital Eurostar link to the Continent. The call came after insiders warned that the operation could run out of cash as early as the spring as passenger numbers have plunged by 95 per cent as a result of the pandemic with worse to come as Britain closes its’ borders. French junior transport minister Jean-Baptiste Djebbari told a parliamentary hearing in Paris that he was in talks with the UK counterparts about a joint bail-out. Eurostar is operated by Eurostar International Limited (EIL), with SNCF, the national railway of France, owning a 55 percent stake. Investors own 40 per cent and the National Railway Company of Belgium five per cent. RMT is warning that thousands of jobs and billions in investment is at risk and is calling on the government to make an urgent intervention with strategic financial support. RMT general secretary Mick Cash said that it was clear that Eurostar was standing on the brink of collapse and called for government action to protect the thousands of jobs and vital infrastructure link to the Continent that now hangs by a thread. "Eurostar has not benefited f rom the kind of financial and practical support that has been made available to the airports and ground operations. That needs to be put right as a matter of priority. "The open access rail operators, Hull Trains and Grand Central, are also urgent cases for action as they have been excluded from the emergency measures offered to the rail franchise holders. “We will need all our domestic and continental rail operations to be fighting fit to help kick start the economic recovery when we emerge for this current lockdown,” he said. HONOUR: RMT News readers sent in this image of a GWR train named in honour of Captain Sir Tom Moore, the second world war veteran who raised almost £39 million for NHS charities during the first coronavirus lockdown in spring 2020, who has died aged 100 after testing positive for coronavirus. ACT TO PREVENT EUROSTAR COLLAPSE Union calls for government action to protect the thousands of jobs and vital infrastructure link that hangs by a thread