Eurotunnel looks at high speed rail bid

GROUPE Eurotunnel, the firm that runs the Channel tunnel is “looking carefully” at bidding for the UK’s only dedicated high-speed rail line.

Executive chairman Jacques Gounon said he was interested in bidding for the High Speed 1 line, which carries trains at 300kph on the 108km between the tunnel and London’s St Pancras station. High Speed 1, which cost £5.8bn to build, could fetch up to £2.5bn, say observers.

The line is controlled by London & Continental Railways, but the government has the right to take control of the line after bailing out the companies who built it in 1998, and is keen on a sale to boost Treasury coffers.

“I’m looking carefully at the High Speed 1 privatisation,” Gounon told the Financial Times.