The government wants to raise £300 million by selling off its 40 per cent share in Eurostar.
Chancellor George Osborne confirmed today that he is seeking bidders for the cross channel operator and hopes to finalise a sale during the first quarter of 2015.
He said the sale is part of the government’s national infrastructure plan which aims to sell off £20 billion-worth of public assets by 2020 to “reduce public sector debt”.
Osborne said: "I am determined that we go on making the decisions to reform the British economy and tackle our debts. So we will proceed with the potential sale of the UK's shareholding in Eurostar today.
"Ensuring that we can deliver the best quality infrastructure for Britain and the best value for money for the taxpayer are key parts of our long-term economic plan."
He added: "As part of our aim to achieve £20bn from assets sales by 2020, the sale proceeds would make an important contribution to the task of reducing the public sector debt."
Labour has warned of a “rushed and under-valued” sell-off similar to the Royal Mail sale last year.
“Eurostar is a national strategic asset that is set to grow and to return increased profits to the UK taxpayer with new routes to Geneva, Lyon, Marseille and Amsterdam,” said shadow transport secretary, Mary Creagh.
“After the staggering incompetence of the Royal Mail sale fiasco, which lost taxpayers a billion pounds, people will worry that this is yet another rushed and undervalued sell-off.
"The National Audit Office should urgently conduct a value-for-money inquiry before this sale proceeds. We must ensure that taxpayers are not ripped off again by bungling ministers and poor financial advice from the City."
Rail union RMT’s general secretary Mick Cash said the Eurostar sale could see more of the UK's railways in foreign hands.
"This compounds the issue of foreign ownership of Britain's railways as the French state has first refusal on our slice of the highly profitable Eurostar cake. The French and Belgians think we are insane knocking off such a valuable and strategic infrastructure asset," he said.
The French state train company SNCF owns 55 per cent of Eurostar with Belgium’s SNCB holding 5 per cent.
Earlier this year, Eurostar reported a 6 per cent growth in business travel bookings for the first half of 2014. And recently announced a year-round service to Geneva via Lille starting in December.