Bad whistle

15 October 2010 By Pierre Briancon

Paris wants to stop Channel Tunnel train operator Eurostar buying Germanbuilt rolling stock from Siemens, a competitor to France’s Alstom. Experts are laughing down the security concerns raised as an excuse. EU authorities should jump on France’s latest protectionist outrage.

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Dominique Bussereau, the French transport minister, said on Oct. 14 that a decision by Eurostar to buy trains from Germany's Siemens was "null and void".

The channel tunnel train operator last week said it would buy 10 nextgeneration high speed trains from Siemens as part of a 700 million pound ($1.12 billion) fleet investment.

Eurotunnel, the crosschannel tunnel operator, earlier this week said it was ready and able to accommodate new train types, as a Siemens train was tested under the tunnel.

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