Thread by @jonworth

Jeeeez. This interview with the boss of the to-be-merged Eurostar-Thalys… a few comments in a 🧵 #euyearofrail

https://twitter.com/lecho/status/1466939838943227907

A common booking site will save them €1 million *a month*

Whaaat?

Either Thalys’s site or Eurostar’s cost €1 million a month to run? For the basic services each offers? 🤯

And Eurostars stay blue, ex-Thalys trains red. Coherent branding that! 😜

ROFL 🤣 . The executive of a SNCF controlled rail group saying it’ll be fine if a rival respects the rules. You mean the rule that no one should rival SNCF? And he says this with a straight face?

FWIW the Thalys/Eurostar merger worries me. Neither are public service operators - they’re monopolist rent seeking capitalists. That’s not good for passengers.

Theoretically there’d be some economies of scale from a merger, but I’m not holding my breath for more through services from London, or better prices Brussels-Paris.

/ends