The French have killed off plans by British Airways and National Express to run Eurostar train services between London's Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris, BA said last night.
The French state railway, SNCF, has pulled out of a consortium headed by BA and National Express to link the two airports by train, which would have had the effect of turning Heathrow into a rail hub for domestic and international services.
The deputy prime minister, John Prescott, had set great store by the project when it was first conceived.
The government awarded the project's operation to the consortium led by BA and its partners in preference to Richard Branson's Virgin group, which was left with the less attractive proposition of trying to develop Eurostar's regional services.
SNCF, which has a 35% share in the consortium, has suddenly withdrawn from the project following pressure from the French government and Air France. They saw the concentration of Eurostar's services from Heathrow as a potential threat to the expansion of Charles de Gaulle. SNCF now says that it wants to see Charles de Gaulle develop as a rail hub for passengers from northern France, incuding cities such as Lille. Heathrow is seen as a potential threat, and fierce rivalries have sprung up over the importance of the two airports.
Air France feels that Eurostar services running between the airports would take business away from it. It does not suffer from the same pessure on slots at Charles de Gaulle as BA does at Heathrow.
London is Air France's busiest route, with 14 flights a day. BA operates 13 times a day, but would like to replace some of those services with a rail link to relieve congestion.
BA, with a 10% share, and National Express, with a 45% stake in the consortium, had advanced plans with Railtrack to build a £40m improvement to track running through west London to enable the project to go ahead.
No date had been set for the opening of the service, but BA had been hoping that the rail link could have started by the middle of the next decade.
The British airline is extremely unhappy about the action by the SNCF. BA's chief executive, Bob Ayling - who has been coming under pressure from City investors - has enthusiastically backed the project. He estimates that Eurostar services from Heathrow would have produced good profits as well as releasing much-needed slots at Britain's congested aviation gateway.
The withdrawal will also annoy Mr Branson, who had drawn the short straw on Eurostar services with the contract to operate regional services only.
Mr Prescott has already been advised that Eurostar services from cities such as Birmingham would not be profitable.
