The owners of the HS1 concession have unveiled a new name for their enterprise. From now on, the HS1 concession will be branded London St. Pancras Highspeed.

The concession to operate the high speed line between London and the Channel Tunnel was awarded in November 2010 and lasts for 30 years. The complete line had opened three years earlier, when Eurostar moved from London Waterloo to St Pancras International, but the name HS1 had been coined by Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown in November 2006, when he told an audience at St Pancras that the original title of Channel Tunnel Rail Link was being retired.

The concession was sold in 2010 by the government for £2.1 billion to the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan. 

They sold it on in turn for £3 billion to HICL Infrastructure (35 per cent), Equitix (35 per cent) and South Korea's National Pension Service (30 per cent), in 2017.

The concession includes the four stations at St Pancras, Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, although a controversy has flared about the lack of Eurostar services at Ebbsfleet and Ashford since the Covid pandemic. In spite of its name, no cross-channel trains have ever called at Stratford International, which is served only by domestic Southeastern high speed trains and the Docklands Light Railway.

London St. Pancras Highspeed CEO Robert Sinclair said: ‘This is not simply a change of brand or a new logo. Instead, it signifies an important shift and a desire to play a much more active and supportive role in driving the growth of sustainable travel by high-speed rail.

‘Who we are and what we do as a business has not changed, but our ambition has. It’s evident that a modal shift is taking place for travel and our new brand reflects this.

‘We believe that growth on our line will have a significant benefit for the UK, opening up more business and tourism opportunities, while bringing Europe closer with fast, city centre to city centre journeys.

‘We have an incredible opportunity and an important responsibility to help maximise the take-up of sustainable rail travel. Together with our partners in the industry, all of us at London St. Pancras Highspeed are excited about the journey ahead.’

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