Any potential HS1 operator is cordially invited to contact us to arrange an introductory interview if they wish. Following the restructuring, the LCR consortium was composed in 2001 of engineering firms and construction companies Arup, Bechtel, Halcrow and Systra (which form Rail Link Engineering (RLE); The transport companies National Express and SNCF (which operate Eurostar`s (UK) stake in the Eurostar service with the Belgian railway company and British Airways), the electricity company EDF and UBS Investment Bank. After RLE completed Section 1, the line was transferred to Union Railways (South), which later transferred it to London & Continental Stations and Property (LCSP), the long-time owner of the line. After the completion of section 2 of the line, it was handed over to Union Railways (North), which transferred it to LCSP. The entire route, including St. Pancras, is managed, operated and maintained by Network Rail (CTRL). We approve all new framework agreements and revisions to existing framework contracts (track access contracts covering the reservation of capacity for more than a period of six months). These are the documents that allow access to the high-speed network 1 (HS1). In March 2020, it was reported that High Speed 1 Ltd was looking, together with SNCF and Lisea, for an operator for a future London St Pancras-Bordeaux St Jean rail service. [150] In 2009, Eurotunnel (the owners of the Channel Tunnel) announced that it was ready to relax fire protection rules to allow other operators, such as Deutsche Bahn, to transport passengers by other forms of railway equipment through the tunnel. [136] As part of the deregulation of European rail traffic, on 1 january high-speed lines opened to access by other operators on 1 January 2010. The Intergovernmental Commission for the Channel Tunnel (IGC) has announced that it is considering relaxing safety requirements for train allocation.

LCR has proposed that high-speed rail traffic between London and Cologne can be opened before the 2012 Olympic Games. [137] By May 2009, LCR had become insolvent and the government obtained an agreement to use state aid for the purchase of the line and open it up to competition so that other services could use it, with the exception of Eurostar. [43] LCR`s 100% subsidiary, HS1 Ltd, has therefore come into the possession of the Secretary of State for Transport. [44] On 12 October 10, 2009, a proposal was announced to sell £16 billion of public assets, including HS1 Ltd, over the next two years, in order to reduce the UK`s public debt. [45] On November 5, 2010, the government announced that a concession for the operation of the line had been sold for thirty years to a consortium of Canadian investors for £2.1 billion. [12] As part of the concession, HS1 Ltd has the right to commercially sell access to the tracks and four international stations (St Pancras, Stratford, Ebbsfleet and Ashford) under the control of the Office of Rail Regulation. . . .