Eurostar to cut services from December

Eurostar is to drop some of its services from December as it introduces longer trains, the company has said.

The cross-Channel rail operator has not yet said which trains will be removed from its schedule.

New e320 trains introduced earlier this year have about 20% more seats and are used for most services between London and Paris.

However, attacks in Paris and Brussels have also deterred some passengers from visiting the cities.

Unions expect the move to result in about 80 job losses.

Any cuts would be achieved through voluntary redundancy or sabbaticals as much as possible, Eurostar said.

The news came as Eurostar and Le Shuttle reported delays on Tuesday to services because of power supply problems in the Channel tunnel.

A Eurostar spokesman said: "The timetable in December will have a reduction in some services. We haven't said which trains they are. The main reason [for reducing services] is we have introduced new trains with bigger capacity.

"This is a challenging environment for all travel companies and we need to manage our costs very carefully. That's why we are looking at the size and shape of our business."

The company blamed terror attacks in Paris as one of the reasons for a £21m slide in annual underlying operating profits for 2015 to £34m.

The general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association union, Manuel Cortes, said: "The Eurostar business has taken a colossal and unexpected hit because of the fall-off in travel to Paris and Brussels in the wake of the terror attacks earlier this year.

"Our first priority as a union is to protect our members' interests, their jobs, their pension and their redundancy rights during this difficult period."