Eurostar revenues boosted by business travellers

Cross-Channel service saw an increase of one per cent from last year

Jamie Dunkley,Lucy Tobin
Thursday 19 February 2015 02:26 GMT
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Safety fast: a sprinkler system goesinto action as soon as a fire isdetected in the Euro Tunnel
Safety fast: a sprinkler system goesinto action as soon as a fire isdetected in the Euro Tunnel

Rising numbers of business travellers and the lure of a direct train from London to the south of France have boosted revenues at Eurostar.

The cross-Channel rail service, which marked its 20th anniversary in 2014, sold £867m of tickets during the year – 1 per cent more than in the previous 12 months.

Eurostar is investing £1bn and will introduce 17 new trains over the next three years and high-speed routes beyond its traditional destinations, including a year-round direct service to southern France, stopping in Lyon, Avignon and Marseille, from May.

Nicolas Petrovic, the chief executive, said ticket sales had “got off to a cracking start” and 2014 had been “a pivotal year for our business”. He added: “Our new e320 trains are now in the final months of testing and on schedule to come into commercial service at the end of this year.”

The news has not been all good for Eurostar in recent months. Services were suspended when a lorry caught fire in a cross-Channel tunnel and thousands of passengers were inconvenienced.

Last year, the British government put its 40 per cent stake in Eurostar up for sale, with bankers at UBS understood to be looking to raise as much as £500m.

Strong interest is expected from Canadian pension funds, other foreign and domestic pension funds, and cash-rich sovereign wealth funds such as those of Norway and Singapore. Insiders have also named Germany’s Deutsche Bahn as a possible trade buyer.

The French state-owned rail operator SNCF, which holds 55 per cent of Eurostar, ruled itself out of the bidding process last year.

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