With the government set to publish its plans for the return of international travel we urge the Government to put in place a specific support package for Eurostar to ensure that as travel resumes the lowest carbon international travel option remains available to the British public.
Commenting in advance of the return-to-travel plan, a High Speed Rail Group (HSRG) spokesperson said:
“It will be a major embarrassment for the UK if the tens of thousands of people travelling here for the UN’s COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow have to fly in rather than come by low carbon high speed Eurostar trains. So as part of the return-to-travel plan, the Government must step in now to support Eurostar, working with the French Government to come up with a solution and maintain our low carbon link to the rest of Europe.”
“Eurostar services running from London to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam are emblematic of the success of high speed rail in providing a clean and green transport solution – cutting the equivalent of 60,000 short-haul flights per year and saving 750,000 tonnes of CO2.
“As international travel resumes this summer, it is vital we build back better with the greenest travel options available. Eurostar has not received any UK Government support whatsoever during the pandemic and if its services collapse – as they are at real risk of doing – the UK’s one and only low carbon international travel option will be gone.”