EUROTUNNEL has confirmed that jobs are to go after admitting that its financial situation is fragile.

But its blueprint for easing the crisis -- Project Dare -- fails to spell out just how many jobs are on the line at the terminal and offices in Kent.

The debt-laden Channel Tunnel operator says cost cuts are essential and these will come mainly from staff savings and tackling the "over-capacity in shuttle services".

Eurotunnel says Project Dare is an essential first step towards recovery. It hopes the measures will increase operating margins by £70m in 2007.

Project Dare follows months of consultation and investigation after the acrimonious ousting of the former board and Canterbury-based chief executive Richard Shirrefs in April.

In an indictment of the previous board, French bosses say Eurotunnel's commercial strategy "is unsuited to the present state of the cross-Channel transport market, which is in decline and highly competitive".

Under new chief executive Jean-Louis Raymond, the company has looked at ways of improving its parlous financial situation, easing its £6bn debt burden, cutting costs and services, and boosting business.

The company says Project Dare, a three-year plan, is "the essential prerequisite for opening, in the best possible conditions, negotiations with the creditors".

But it had this warning for staff: "Clearly, and unfortunately, the implementation will lead to an impact on employment. The validation of the scale of capacity reduction requires substantial further work; it is only when this work is completed that Eurotunnel will enter into the process of consultation with staff and union representatives."

Mr Raymond said: "These measures alone will not be sufficient to safeguard our future beyond the demanding challenges of the next two years.

"In reality, the financial structure of the group remains fragile and the high financial charges continue to impact on operating results."

The board highlights areas for improvement, including locking big customer haulage firms into long-term deals.

It is clearly fed up being what it calls "free insurance" for the ferries when they are delayed by bad weather or "any other reason," such as French industrial action.

Meanwhile, the French Government has granted Eurotunnel the right to operate Europorte 2, a rail freight service that makes it the first private operator on the French national network.