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A senior official in Paris said the French government expected shareholders and creditors to make an additional effort before any state aid could be put on the table.
The official added that a solution for Eurostar would have to be found by this summer, and that as it stands France still expects the UK to participate if needed but there had been no high-level political contacts with the British so far.
Shareholders, including the Canadian pension fund Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Hermes Infrastructure have already put in more than €200m during the crisis.
SNCF told the Financial Times in March that Eurostar will need new money in “weeks not months” to fend off a
looming cash crunch and that both the French and UK governments were in advanced discussions about how to help the company.
Eurostar and the UK government have held talks over a possible state-backed commercial loan worth £60m to help it through the crisis, but they are yet to yield any results. One person close to the talks said the discussions had not concluded, and there has not yet been a definitive refusal from the government.
Eurostar owns and runs the trains that travel on high-speed lines between the UK and France, Belgium and the Netherlands but does not own any of the infrastructure it uses, including the Channel Tunnel itself.
Its chief executive Jacques Damas told the FT last month he was “
fed up” with the French and UK governments’ refusal to take responsibility for helping the company.
Eurostar and shareholders SNCF, Hermes and CDPQ declined to comment