Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd.
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Eurostar (UK) Limited or EUKL is a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways (LCR). It is responsible for the British share of the joint Eurostar operation along with NMBS/SNCB (Belgium) and SNCF (France).
EUKL began as European Passenger Services (EPS), a division of British Rail. The Privatisation of British Rail saw EPS sold to LCR as part of the 1996 deal with the UK government to build and operate High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel.
In 1998 LCR ran into major financial problems and appealed to the UK government for support, see High Speed 1#Background for details.
As part of the resulting reorganisation a management contract for EUKL was to be awarded. Two bids for the contract were submited by Virgin Group and InterCapital and Regional Rail (ICRR). ICRR won the award. Shareholders in ICRR are
- National Express Group (40%),
- SNCF (35%)
- NMBS/SNCB (15%)
- British Airways (10%).