London & Continental Railways
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| Limited liability company | |
| Industry | Property development |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Headquarters |
One Kemble Street, London WC2B 4AN, England |
| Owners | Department for Transport |
| Website | lcrhq |
London and Continental Railways (LCR) is a property development company owned by the British Government for developing former railway land in the United Kingdom. The company was originally established in 1994 as a private consortium to own European Passenger Services and build the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) under a contract agreed with the UK Government.
After the full length of the CTRL was opened and rebranded as High Speed 1 (HS1) in late 2007, the company subsequently ran into financial difficulties and was nationalised by the UK Government in June 2009.
LCR was established in 1994 during the privatisation of British Rail. LCR bid for and won the contract from the UK government in 1996 to build and operate the Channel Tunnel Rail Link between London and the Channel Tunnel, under the terms of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996. As part of this deal European Passenger Services (EPS) and Union Railways, companies owned by British Rail, were transferred to LCR ownership, as well as key pieces of railway infrastructure including St Pancras railway station and the King's Cross Central lands nearby.
EPS was the British arm of the joint Eurostar operation, along with SNCF in France and SNCB in Belgium. LCR renamed EPS as Eurostar (UK) Ltd (EUKL). Union Railways had been developing plans for the CTRL since before the opening of the Channel Tunnel and became the construction company of the CTRL under the ownership of LCR.
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