A consortium led by Sir Adrian Montague, the merchant banker and Treasury adviser, has approached the company building the UK?s first dedicated high-speed railway, the ?5.2bn (?7.58bn) Channel Tunnel Rail Link, about a possible bid.

The move is a sign of the growing interest among financial investors in infrastructure assets with predictable income flows and comes as London & Continental Railways nears completion of the 68-mile line from the Channel Tunnel to London?s St Pancras station.