The DfT is no doubt right to say the safety regime planned for the new Eurostar high-speed services between London, Frankfurt and Amsterdam is adequate.
France has a history of throwing its diplomatic and political weight behind its favoured industries, which has no doubt helped keep well-paid French workers in their jobs over the years. Many British industries might hope and pray for such interventionist government from time-to-time, rather than the more laissez-faire model we tend to operate under.
But France’s most recent accusations over ‘safety flaws’ in the row over Siemens vs Alstom trains is subject to too much high-level scrutiny to pass muster. It must drop its self-interested blockading of progress, unless it can produce real evidence to back up its claims.
