3.7 At an estimated construction cost in excess of £4,000 million, the Link is one of the largest infrastructure projects in Europe. The main source of income to recover this enormous investment is Eurostar UK revenues. These depend on the number of passengers using the Eurostar UK services and the fares they will be willing to pay. With such large public transport infrastructure projects, it is unlikely that the cost of construction can be recovered over a reasonable length of time from fares paid by passengers. In the case of the Link, factors such as competition with airlines limit the fares that Eurostar UK can charge and still attract passengers. Appendix 6 explains why costs are unlikely to be recovered solely through passenger revenues.
3.8 This means the Link was unlikely to be built without some form of financial support from the public sector. Under the original competition for the Link, LCR and other bidders estimated the expected costs of constructing and operating the Link and the revenues from Eurostar UK over the contract period. The difference between these figures determined the "Funding Gap", which represented the level of public sector financial support required.