limited company industry rail transport founded 1990 headquarters london england key people nicolas petrovic ceo products rail transport revenue 857 million 2013 operating income 54 million 2013 owners sncf 55 % caisse de d p t et placement du qu bec 30 % hermes infrastructure 10 % sncb 5 % 1 subsidiaries eurostar website www.eurostar.com eurostar international limited 2 eil is the railway company operating the international eurostar train services between london paris and brussels via the channel tunnel . eurostar was previously operated by three separate companies in belgium france and the united kingdom but this structure was replaced by eil as a new single management company on 1 september 2010 . eil is owned by sncf 55 % caisse de d p t et placement du qu bec cdpq 30 % hermes infrastructure 10 % and sncb 5 % . 1 eurostar international is the largest customer of eurotunnel the owners of the channel tunnel . contents 1 history 2 fleet 3 references 4 external links history edit class 373 sets at london waterloo in may 2005 eurostar international was formed in 1990 as european passenger services 2 eps as the division of british rail responsible for the uk section of the eurostar operation . eurostar trains began operating on 14 november 1994 with eps sncb and sncf were each responsible for the running of eurostar services in their own territory . on 1 april 1994 eps signed a fixed rate track access contract with railtrack lasting until 29 july 2052 as part of the plans for regional eurostar services . 3 the privatisation of british rail saw ownership of eps transferred to london and continental railways lcr in 1996 . this was part of the contract agreed with the government of the united kingdom for lcr build and operate high speed 1 hs1 between london and the channel tunnel . the company was renamed eurostar uk limited 2 eukl and was to use the income from eukl to help finance the hs1 project . following financial assistance from the government in 1998 lcr was forced to appoint a management contract for eukl . bids for the contract were submitted by virgin rail group and inter capital and regional rail a consortium of national express 40 % sncf 35 % sncb 15 % and british airways 10 % . the latter was awarded the contract which was to run from 1998 until 2010 . 4 in january 2009 after the completion of hs1 the uk s department for transport took control of lcr and announced its intention to put both hs1 and eukl up for sale . deutsche bahn expressed an interest in eukl but no sale materialised . 5 on 31 december 2009 eukl was renamed eurostar international limited 2 eil . on 1 september 2010 the three national eurostar operators merged into eil as a single company with a single management structure . following this change the icrr management contract for the uk business was terminated . 6 once all eurostar assets were transferred to eil the holdings in the company were amended to lcr 40 % sncb 5 % and sncf 55 % . 7 8 lcr sold a 30 year concession to operate hs1 in november 2010 to a canadian consortium of borealis infrastructure and ontario teacher s pension plan for 2.1 bn . 9 10 eil then paid access charges to the consortium to operate eurostar trains on hs1 . on 4 december 2013 the uk government announced it was looking to sell lcr s 40 % stake in eil . 11 12 in january 2014 in a joint venture with keolis eurostar was shortlisted to bid for the east coast franchise in the united kingdom . 13 14 however a bid by virgin trains east coast a consortium of stagecoach and virgin won the franchise . 15 in june 2014 the uk s 40 % shareholding in eil was transferred from lcr to hm treasury 16 and a sale process was launched on 13 october 2014 . 17 in march 2015 the treasury announced it had sold the stake to caisse de d p t et placement du qu bec cdpq 30 % and hermes infrastructure 10 % for 585.1 m. it also confirmed agreement to redeem its preference share in eil for 172m raising 757.1 m in total . 18 fleet edit eil is the owner of 38 class 373 sets . these consist of 31 three capitals eurostar trains 2 power cars with 18 passenger carriages and seven north of london regional eurostar trains 2 power cars with 14 passenger carriages . following delivery during 2014 onwards they will also become the owner of seventeen british rail class 374 sets . these are sixteen carriage siemens velaro units which use distributed traction power . references edit a b uk government sells eurostar stake for 757.1 m . bbc news online . 4 march 2015 . retrieved 4 march 2015 . patina rail llp will acquire the uk treasury s entire share consortium is made up of two companies canadian based caisse de depot et placement du quebec cdpq and the uk s hermes infrastructure will own 30 % and 10 % of eurostar respectively a b c d companies house extract company no 2462001 eurostar international limited formerly eurostar uk limited formerly european passenger services limited winsor thomas p 6 march 2003 . judgement pdf . network rail infrastructure limited v eurostar uk limited report . office of rail regulation . pp. 2 3 . retrieved 24 may 2012 . eurostar restructure sees uk expand rail stake archived october 23 2013 at the wayback machine . deutsche bahn says interested in eurostar stake reuters 14 january 2009 national express group plc annual report and accounts 2010 behind the scenes eurostar eurostar restructuring completed railway gazette 2 september 2010 hs1 sale completion london & continental railway high speed 1 concession awarded to canadian pension consortium railway gazette 5 november 2010 eurostar government s 40 % stake up for sale sky news 4 december 2013 uk government contemplates sale of lcr assets & eurostar stake railway gazette 4 december 2013 east coast rail shortlist revealed bbc news 17 january 2014 intercity east coast franchise shortlist announced railway gazette 17 january 2014 stagecoach and virgin win east coast mainline rail franchise . bbc news . retrieved 5 march 2015 . house of commons hansard ministerial statements for 19 june 2014 pt 0001 . uk parliament . house of commons . retrieved 3 october 2014 . eurostar rail stake touted for sale by uk government . bbc news . retrieved 2 april 2015 . uk government has reached agreement for the sale of its entire interest in eurostar international limited eurostar for 757.1 m. . gov.uk . retrieved 2 april 2015 . external links edit eurostar company information retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title eurostar international limited & oldid 730867717 categories eurostarrailway companies of the united kingdom1990 establishments in englandhidden categories articles with wayback machine linksarticles containing french language text navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction 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