Fresh doubts have been cast over the future of Eurostar as its majority shareholder called for state aid within a month to overcome the Covid crisis.
A cash injection is needed within weeks to enable the high speed Channel Tunnel passenger service to survive after traffic fell 95% due to the pandemic.
Jean-Pierre Farandou, chief executive of French state rail company SNCF, told the Financial Times: “We are getting closer to the moment when Eurostar will have real cash flow problems … by next month, we have to conclude these discussions.”
Eurostar is understood to be in talks with UK Export Finance about backing loans worth £60 million, the newspaper reported.
The UK and French governments were in “ongoing very advanced discussions” about the possibility of providing state-backed loans to Eurostar to help it survive the pandemic, according to Farandou.
He added: “We hope that it will be weeks [for a rescue deal] because the financial situation is going to be very difficult at the end of May, start of June.”
The operator is running just two trains a day due to lockdowns and restrictions on travel to and from the UK.
Concerns were raised in January over the company’s ability to survive without new funding.
Shareholders in Eurostar have already pumped €200 million in since the pandemic hit, although Farandou said that aid was “finite”.
He added: “Eurostar is even more important after Brexit. It’s worth the cost of fighting for Eurostar. Eurostar is strategic, it’s geopolitical.”