British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Group aims to raise 700 million pounds ($900 million) to fund its bid to launch cross-channel rail services to compete with Eurostar, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The bomb was discovered in Paris around 4 a.m. by workers doing earth-moving work near the tracks in the Seine-Saint-Denis region. Eurostar trains to and from London were brought to a halt.

Eurostar has suspended services between London and Paris after the discovery of an unexploded Second World War bomb near tracks in the French capital. Thousands of passengers are disrupted as the cross-Channel operator cancelled 10 services on Friday morning. All trains in the Paris to London direction are cancelled until at least 12.09pm.

The unexploded bomb was discovered overnight in the Saint-Denis suburb of Paris during works on the tracks, halting the Eurostar and all other local trains at Gare du Nord, France’s busiest station. Impacted Eurostar travellers are being asked to move their journey to a different date.

Virgin Group, led by British billionaire Richard Branson, plans to raise 700 million pounds to fund a cross-channel rail service that will compete with Eurostar. The group looks to gather 300 million in equity and 400 million in debt,

The discovery of the bomb led to Eurostar cancelling all of its services on Friday, creating travel chaos in London. Parisian authorities said on Friday afternoon they had managed to make the unexploded bomb safe, with trains beginning to operate from 5pm GMT.