Fares for English Channel Tunnel Are Too High, Europe Says

[ThirdRail7]

A brief fair use quote:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/21/busin ... .html?_r=1&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Eurostar train tickets between London and Paris are notoriously costly — too costly, European regulators declared Thursday.

The European Commission warned Britain and France, which together regulate the company that operates the tunnel through the English Channel, to curb the high fees assessed on the Eurostar passenger trains and freight haulers.

The two countries must “comply with European Union rules against excessive track access charges for passenger and freight trains in the channel tunnel,” the commission, the bloc’s administrative arm, said in a statement.

[Fan Railer]

Interesting. Now the question is, how far down can we expect to see future fares go?

[Passenger]

Interesting. Now the question is, how far down can we expect to see future fares go?

Until it becomes uneconaomical and the service is cancelled?

[djlong]

It's all a matter of perspective.

A few years ago, I was able to send my kids (one daughter visiting the other in London - one doing a semester in college, one on spring break) from London-Paris for a grand total of about $100 round trip ($25 each, each way). Granted that was on a Tuesday and, apparently, the fares are cheaper since all the museums in Paris are closed Tuesdays - but when my wife and I did the trip one way (London-Paris) on our honeymoon, the cost was less than an Acela BOS-NY ticket would have been..

[David Benton]

I was under the impression it was more about the track access charges to the operating companies, rather than the fares charged to customers. I wonder if the entry of DB to the market has any bearing on it ?

[electricron]

Did the EU provide any funds to finance building and operating the Channel Tunnel?
Don't France and England deserve the ability to have that Tunnel finance itself?

[ExCon90]

I was under the impression it was more about the track access charges to the operating companies, rather than the fares charged to customers. I wonder if the entry of DB to the market has any bearing on it ?

But track-access charges put a floor under the fares charged to customers. Maybe DB did raise an objection.