12. It had always been widely recognised that the Link would never be viable as a wholly privately financed project. The revenue stream from Eurostar UK services would not be sufficient by itself to make the project viable for a private sector company and therefore some element of public support was necessary. Furthermore, there were of many wider benefits to be gained, including the regeneration of the Thames Gateway and the improvement in London's competitiveness as a business centre through better transport infrastructure. Accordingly, the Government of the day pledged a substantial contribution to the construction cost of the project, but made clear that it wanted to know how much it would be required to commit and when. The Government expected most of the construction to be finished before it would begin to pay its share because this would provide the assurance that substantial amounts of private sector finance were being invested and placed at risk. As a further assurance, the payments of public sector grant instalments were to be conditional upon the achievement of specified milestones in the project programme.
13. The European Union (EU) also made clear its commitment to the project. Since 1992 URL's work has been supported by the Trans-European Networks programme, to support development work on projects which connect the growing network of high-speed railways between major European centres. The European Investment Bank (EIB) was another important player with the Link being the kind of project which it is designed to support. The EIB provides loans for capital investment, thereby supporting the EU's aim for balanced economic development and integration. EIB loans can be supported by guarantees provided from the European Investment Fund, a pool of money made available by EU Member States, not to be spent on projects directly, but to provide security for the loans without requiring, for example, a charge over assets.
14. An important part of the tender information issued to the prospective promoters was the minimum requirements, which now form a key component of the contract with LCR. They set out the standards and minimum technical specification to which the Link must be designed, and meeting them is a precondition to the opening of the railway. The minimum requirements also specify environmental standards which the Link must meet.
15. In July 1994, four of the consortia: Eurorail CTRL, Green Arrow, LCR and Union Link, were invited to tender for the project. Full bids were submitted in March 1995. After evaluation of the bids in accordance with the published criteria, Eurorail CTRL and LCR were invited to proceed to the final stage of the competition.