It is scandalous that Eurostar is abandoning its commitment to provide a direct service from the North of England and Scotland to Paris.

The company today confirmed that it has offered redundancy to the 30 drivers who would have operated the regional service. It wants to concentrate purely on London to Europe.

Billions of pounds of public money has been pumped into the Channel Tunnel link. That money has come from taxpayers all over Britain, including North Yorkshire.

As concern about the rising costs increased, we were repeatedly assured that everyone would enjoy the benefits of this giant investment.

Residents in England's prosperous Home Counties reaped the rewards of direct train travel to France long ago. But the rest of us have been ignored.

For years, Eurostar has been making noises about a northern link to the Chunnel. We were promised the connection in time for Christmas - 1997. Then we were told it would be up and running for the New Year. Then for the Ecofin conference last March... The list of broken promises goes on.

On the basis of these promises, Railtrack has invested further millions. Platforms have been changed, signalling and infrastructure modified, all to take the non-existent Eurostar service.

Other businesses have been indirectly hit. North Yorkshire tourism bosses expected the direct link to provide a huge boost to the local economy. But European passengers will not be brought directly to York. Our traders have been bypassed.

A Eurostar spokesman today confirmed that the firm did not want to run the regional links. It would only do so if forced to by the Government. Ministers must do all in their power to compel Eurostar to meet its obligations. But a better long term solution might be for another operator to take on the service. The demand is there, as most travellers along the East Coast Main Line do not have easy access to Eurostar's airline competitors.

A forward-looking rail company should see that this is an opportunity going begging.

see NEWS 'York-Paris link faces derailment'

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