London and Continental Railways

London and Continental Railways (LCR) was established in 1994 in order to bid for the contract to design, construct and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) from the Channel Tunnel to London. In 1996 it won this contract and took over Eurostar (U.K.) Limited, formerly European Passenger Services Limited and the UK arm of the Eurostar operation, and Union Railways Limited who were developing plans for the CTRL. Construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was spit into 2 sections with Unions Railways (South) being responsible for section 1, the southern portion from the Tunnel, and Unions Railways (North) constructing the more complex section 2 into London.

The company ran into financial difficulties in 1998 due to low than expected revenue from the Eurostar services so the Government allowed it to issue bonds that it would guarantee in return for a percentage of future profits and a golden share in LCR. Railtrack was also brought in and agreed to purchase the route when it was completed. Following the collapse of Railtrack LCR bought back the rights to the CTRL so that it would own the railway when it was finished.

Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was completed in September 2003 and handed over from Union Railways (South) to London and Continental so that it could be use by Eurostar, and later, freight services. Section 2 followed later and services along the full length of the route started in November 2007, at which point it was rebranded High Speed 1 (HS1).

In May 2009 LCR was declared insolvent and the Government took control of the company in June of the same year. Following this a major restructuring of the Eurostar services was undertaken. Operations were transferred to a single company, rather than the three national ones that had previously run the service, with LCR taking a 40% stake in the new organisation. It retained this until 2013 when it transferred it to the Treasury before its sale for £760 million.

In November 2010 the company sold a 30 year concession to own and operate High Speed 1. In 2013 it received land assets from BRB (Residuary) which was then dissolved.

Currently London and Continental Railways is involved in the redevelopment of former railway land and providing advice to HS2 Limited.