London and Continental Railways
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London & Continental Railways (LCR) is a railway company based in the United Kingdom.
[edit] History
Created at the time of the Privatisation of British Rail it bid for and won the contract from the UK government in 1996 to build and operate the high speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) between London and the Channel Tunnel. As part of this deal the European Passenger Services (EPS) and Union Railways sections of British Rail were handed over to LCR as well as key pieces of railway infastructure including St Pancras railway station and Manchester International & North Pole depots.
EPS was the British arm of the joint Eurostar operation, along with SNCF and SNCB. LCR renamed EPS as Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd. (EUKL). Union Railways had been developing plans for the CTRL since before the opening of the Channel Tunnel and continued this role as part of LCR.
The original shareholders of LCR were National Express Group, Virgin Group, SBC Warburg, Bechtel and London Electric. As part of the 1996 contract LCR were to finance and construct the CTRL themselves, funding it from income received from the Eurostar operation.
In 1998 LCR ran into major financial difficulties and appealed to the UK government for support. It admitted that income from its share of the Eurostar operation was not at the level it expected and would therefore not be able to undertake construction of the CTRL. At this time the future of the high speed line looked in doubt. See here for more details.
In 2006 LCR put forward a proposal to build a domestic high speed line north of London — see High-speed rail in the United Kingdom.
[edit] 2006 shareholders & status
The current structure of LCR is complex due to numerous reorganisations, for example SNCF is involved in the Eurostar operation at three different levels. Current shareholders in LCR are:
- Rail Link Engineering (RLE)
- National Express Group
- SNCF
- EDF Energy
- UBS investment bank
The construction of the CTRL is being project managed for LCR by RLE. Current shareholders in RLE are:
Since the 1998 reorganisation the operation of EUKL has run as under a management contract by InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR). Current ICRR shareholders are:
- National Express Group (40%)
- SNCF (35%)
- SNCB (15%)
- British Airways (10%)
London & Continental Stations and Property (LCSP) is the property division of LCR and will be the eventual owners of the CTRL under the current arrangement however operation of the line will be undertaken by Network Rail.
