UK bids to sell 40% of Eurostar rail link
Print Edition
BRITAIN’S government officially launched yesterday an attempt to sell its 40 percent stake in Eurostar, the high-speed rail service connecting London with Paris and Brussels.
It forms part of the state’s plan to recoup 20 billion pounds (US$32.2 billion) from asset sales by 2020 to help bring down the country’s debt pile.
The government announced its intention to privatize its stake in Eurostar late last year.
“I am determined that we go on making the decisions to reform the British economy and tackle our debts. So we will proceed with the potential sale of the UK’s shareholding in Eurostar today,” finance minister George Osborne said in a statement.
The Treasury said it “would expect to reach definitive agreements in the first quarter of 2015” over the sale, ahead of a general election in Britain that is due soon after.
Eurostar is also 55 percent owned by French rail operator SNCF and 5 percent by Belgium’s SNCB.
The train service has carried more than 145 million passengers in its 20 years of existence, and 10 million alone last year, the Treasury said.
Trade union leaders hit out at the potential sale.
“This compounds the issue of foreign ownership of Britain’s railways as the French state have first refusal on our slice of the highly profitable Eurostar cake,” said Mick Cash, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union.
“The French and Belgians think we are insane knocking off such a valuable and strategic infrastructure asset,” he added.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
